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WORLD PATRIOTS 


WORLD PATRIOTS 

BY 

JOHN T. M. JOHNSTON 


AUTHOR OF 

A Man With A Purpose 
The Question Of The Hour 
Etc . 


World Patriots has been translated into Spanish by Dr. Jose V asconselos, 
Minister of Education of the Republic of Mexico, and has been 
published for use as a textbook in high schools and col¬ 
leges of Anglo America and Latin America. 


WORLD PATRIOTS COMPANY 

Saint Louis, 

U. S. A. 

1 Qf « Jj 
C~ \ M H 2 






Copyright 

BY 

JOHN T. M. JOHNSTON 

1917-1920-1924 


<3Ift from 
Robert L- Owen 
Nov. 4, 1931 


Printed and Bound by 
The E. W. Stephens Company 
Columbia, Missouri 



Consecrated 

TO 

The thirty-five million pupils of Pan-America who are studying in the 
English and Spanish languages the patriotic principles and precepts of 
George Washington and Simon Bolivar; to these young men and women 
of the Western Hemisphere to whom we must look for the perpetuation 
of ideal patriotism, intelligent citizenship and the spiritual advancement 
of the world. 








To My Daughter 

MARGARET JOHNSTON PEPPARD 
My assistant and collaborator in writing the third 
edition of WORLD PATRIOTS. 


FOREWORD 


The man or woman who chooses as a vocation that of a teacher, 
selects one of the highest of all callings. The teachers of America are 
the custodians of the morals of all the students of the country. The 
raising of the standard of American ideals and American efficiency 
in thinking and in doing rests upon teachers. The teachers of the land 
occupy strategical places in the moulding of American manhood and 
womanhood. The future character and destiny of American Republics, 
especially as related to patriotism and citizenship, is empowered in the 
teachers of the land. The generation coming is to hold the reins of our 
government, and what they are to be depends upon their teachers. The 
teacher of the smallest country school occupies a position of sacred trust, 
as well as one of potential power. Parents entrust to teachers their most 
valued and cherished possessions. Therefore the character and per¬ 
sonality of the teacher in any community is more important than that 
of the banker or the merchant. 

The four million teachers of the America’s north, central and south, 
should realize that the family, the school, and the church are the real 
moulders of the destinies of the twenty-one Republics of the new world. 

The Author. 


( 8 ) 


CONTENTS 


Introductions: 


Ideal Patriotism and Intelligent 
Citizenship ----- 
John Marshall - 
George Washington - 
Simon Bolivar - 
N Queen Elizabeth - 
Joan of Arc ----- 
Otto Von Bismarck - 
Camillo Benso Cavour - - - 

Peter The Great - 
Miguel Hidalgo - 
Abraham Lincoln - 
Robert E. Lee - 
Theodore Roosevelt - - - - 

American Civil Government - 
Ten Commandments of Patriotism - 



PAGE 

Walter Williams 

13 

Champ Clark - 

15 

Robert L. Owen - 

17 

The Author - 

19 

United States 

25 

United States - 

37 

South America - 

61 

England 

C3 

France 

- 113 

Germany 

145 

Italy 

- 163 

Russia - 

177 

Republic of Mexico 

- 189 

United States - 

215 

United States 

- 237 

United States - 

255 

- 

- 281 

- 

298 


( 9 ) 










ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 


1. John T. M. Johnston 19 

2. John Marshall - 25 

3. George Washington 37 

4. George Washington Praying - - 60 

5. Simon Bolivar ----- 61 

6. Queen Elizabeth - 83 

7. Joan of Arc ----- 113 

8. Otto Von Bismarck - - - 145 

9. Camillo Benso Cavour - 163 

10. Peter The Great - - - - 177 

11. Miguel Hidalgo - - - - 189 

12 . Abraham Lincoln - - - .- 215 

13. The Homes of Lincoln - 236 

14. Robert E. Lee - - - - 237 

15. Stone Mountain Memorial - - 241 

16. Theodore Roosevelt - 255 


(11) 





INTRODUCTIONS. 


By Doctor Walter Williams, 


Dean of the School of Journalism of the Univei'sity of Missouri. 
President of the Press Congress of the World . 


Press Congress of the World 
Office of the President 
At the School of Journalism 
University of Missouri 


HIS excellent volume by a distinguished American, 



Dr. John T. M. Johnston, discussing the principles 


which are the foundations of patriotism and illus¬ 
trating these principles by well chosen examples, will 
have—as it so richly merits—a persuasive appeal every¬ 


where. 


Its very title appeals and broadly. Patriotism, desire to 
serve humanity, aspiration toward leadership, are found 
among all nations and among all peoples. Greatness is 
not limited by boundaries of race or nation, ocean or moun¬ 
tain range. Its only limitations are the limitations of 
humanity. “World Patriots” suggests that each nation 
may learn from every nation and that the soil from which 
true patriotism springs is found wherever aspiring man 
dwells. 

Unto those who know—as is my good fortune—Dr. 
Johnston’s dynamic personality, his earnest and success¬ 
ful effort to serve his fellowmen, the name of the author 
will effectively appeal. Here is a man who lives the life 
he is writing of, who is leader in finance and statecraft, 
in educational and civic affairs, who speaks earnestly and 
illuminatingly of genuine patriotism. 

The content of the volume appeals to all who would 
know the leaders of mankind, and who would not? Scan 


(13) 



14 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


the author’s list—John Marshall, George Washington, 
Simon Bolivar, Queen Elizabeth, Joan of Arc, Otto von 
Bismarck, Camillo Benso Cavour, Peter the Great, Miguel 
Hidalgo, Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Theodore 
Roosevelt. Not only is man “the proper study of man¬ 
kind,” but the most fascinating. Dr Johnston has selected 
with care and wisdom great characters who are exemplars. 
From each biography much may be learned; each is an 
interesting story. He has added a succinct discussion of 
American civil government and made a volume that is a 
helpful, constructive contribution unto the practice by all 
peoples of the fine and difficult art of self-government. 
He opens the windows upon the lives of yesterday that the 
lives of tomorrow may be illuminated thereby. 

In the purpose of the book is its greatest appeal. At¬ 
tractive and suggestive title, influential and forceful au¬ 
thor, comprehensive and vigorously presented chapters— 
these make a book worth examination, reading and study. 
The purpose of “World Patriots” goes further and 
deeper. It is intended to influence the hearts and minds 
of men and women—the young in the plastic years of life, 
those more mature who may yet be stirred to larger things. 
It seeks to build a foundation, sound and durable, in men’s 
lives so that the structure of civil government and of 
personal character erected by man thereupon will make 
the new world a better place in which to live than the old 
world has ever been. 

Such a book with such a high and noble purpose is its 
own best introduction. That it will realize in ample meas¬ 
ure the desire of its distinguished author is my confident 
belief. 

Columbia, Missouri, U. S. A. 

August 4, 1924. 


By Champ Clark, 


Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States 
of America. 


The author of this book, Dr. John T. M. Johnston, 
is one of the foremost men in Missouri, a scholar of pro¬ 
found learning, a public speaker of great force, a banker 
and financier of high rank. In addition to all of this, he 
is a philanthropist as well as an intense patriot. This is 
not his first plunge into literature. He has already writ¬ 
ten several excellent books. 

In this volume, he has seized upon one of the most 
important and elevating subjects to which the human 
mind, whether nascent or mature, can turn its attention. 
Knowing Dr. Johnston as thoroughly as I do, and ad¬ 
miring him as much as I do, I am certain that this vol¬ 
ume will be widely read, and universally used as a text¬ 
book in our schools and do a vast amount of good. 

The truth is that for years we have been so self-satisfied 
with the liberties we enjoy, and with our condition gen¬ 
erally, that we take everything for granted and think 
that it was an easy matter to attain the status which we 
now occupy. Consequently we have paid little atten¬ 
tion to patriotism and to good citizenship. All is easy 
in the retrospect, as all’s well that ends well. The average 
citizen seems inclined to think that the making of the 
Declaration of Independence, which is the real foundation 
of our Government, was a sort of holiday performance— 
which is a great mistake. The men who performed that 
immortal deed did it with halters about their necks. 

When they were signing, old Ben Franklin, the greatest 
(15) 


16 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


wit of that age, perhaps the greatest wit of all the ages, 
said: “Now that we have signed, we must all hang to¬ 
gether or we will all hang separately,” an immortal 
truth. Big, bluff Ben Harrison, afterwards Governor 
of Virginia, poked little Elbridge Gerry of Massachu¬ 
setts in the ribs and said: “I will have one advantage over 
you when the day of hanging comes. My great weight 
will make me die sooner.” 

John Hancock, the President of that Congress, signed 
it in characters so large that he who runs may read, 
and said: “I guess King George the Third can read that 
without his glasses.” 

When Charles Carroll of Carrollton signed it some¬ 
body said to him that in the multiplicity of Charles Car- 
rolls he might escape when the day for hanging should 
come, whereupon he seized his pen and added to his name 
the words “of Carrollton,” so that there would he no 
question of identity on the great occasion to which they 
looked forward. This was the spirit in which those men 
did that great and renowned deed. 

My own opinion is that patriotism and good citizen¬ 
ship should be specifically taught in every school in the 
land. Dr. Johnston has written a book suitable for this 
purpose, and I have no sort of doubt that the end will 
be abundantly attained. The cause is as worthy as the 
man. If he can induce all of the public and private 
schools in the United States to turn a portion of their 
time to the study of the subject which he has studied so 
profoundly, he will be recognized in future ages as a 
great public benefactor. 

Washington, D. C., 

August 7,1917. 



By Robert L. Owen, 

United States Senator from the State of Oklahoma, Chairman 
of the Senate Committee on Banking and Currency. 

I congratulate the country upon the production of 
“World Patriots” by my dear friend, Dr. John T. M. 
Johnston, of Saint Louis. The purpose of this volume 
is to emphasize upon the mind of the youth of the West¬ 
ern Hemisphere and of the world, those great exemplars 
of patriotism, whose efforts to serve men have lifted their 
names like mountain peaks above the common plain. These 
are the great and noble spirits from whom the youth of 
the world can draw inspiration in devotion to country in 
the highest lessons of patriotism. 

Never was the time more urgent for teaching these 
lessons. During the past century have been born the 
most gigantic intellectual and material forces of all the 
records of time. They are expanding constantly. These 
forces should be the servants of human life, of human 
liberty, of human happiness. Properly directed, they will 
bring to every human being the highest development and 
happiness. The doctrine of patriotism, of service to others, 
is as essential to the wise guidance of these forces as 
a rudder is to an ocean liner, or a steel track to a mogul 
engine. 

Intellectual power and material power may be used 
for dangerous and harmful ends when employed to serve 
coarse selfishness, or cold ambition. They are only serv¬ 
ing mankind best when they are directed by altruism and 
for patriotic purposes. 


(17) 


18 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


The lessons of patriotism are contagious. We see tens 
of thousands of humble men rush to the colors at the call 
of the country, ready to give their lives as a willing sacri¬ 
fice in the service of their country and in love for their fel¬ 
low men. 

May the contagion of patriotism, which breathes through 
the pages of “World Patriots,” seize the hearts of all 
the youth of America that they may realize the everlasting 
truth of the adage: 

“Be noble, and the nobility that lies in other men sleep¬ 
ing, but never dead, will rise in majesty to meet your 
own.” 

It is the fruitful nobility of these patriots which has 
moved the spirit of Dr. Johnston to render this service to 
his fellow men. I bid the hook God-speed, that its mission 
may be fruitful, that it may inspire tens of thousands, yes 
millions, of the noble young men and women of America 
to emulate the splendid example of service set forth in the 
lives of “World Patriots,” which is laid before them with 
such high purpose. 

I so thoroughly believe this book will be a potent factor 
in inspiring the young folks of America to lofty patri¬ 
otism that I am looking forward to have it adopted as a 
text-book not only in the public schools and colleges of 
my own State, Oklahoma, but of the entire United States. 
Washington,, 

August 7, 1917. 




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V. 


















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V. 



























INTELLIGENT CITIZENSHIP AND IDEAL 
PATRIOTISM. 

The thought and purpose of this volume is to kindle 
the fires of patriotism in the hearts of the American people 
and to inculcate sound principles of citizenship. 

The deeds of crime that are being daily heralded by 
newspapers, from the village sheet to the metropolitan 
journal, reveal that a sub-normal moral condition is per¬ 
vading the country. Criminologists affirm that there is 
a marked deterioration of individual and national con¬ 
science. Linked with these outbreaks of crime is a con¬ 
tagion of indifference to law and order that is enveloping 
the country and lowering its moral fiber. In some instances 
our law-makers are self centered and untrue to their con¬ 
stituents. The United States is passing through an eco¬ 
nomic, political, social and religious crisis. 

In 1782 when America was first officially recognized by 
foreign countries as an independent nation the combined 
wealth of the world was one hundred billion dollars; 
America’s wealth was one billion dollars, or 1/100 of the 
total wealth of the world. During the 142 years that have 
intervened, the world’s assets have increased to one trillion 
dollars; and America’s to four hundred billion dollars 
which is 2/5 of the world’s total wealth. In 6,000 years all 
the nations of the world have accumulated material posses¬ 
sions amounting to $1,000,000,000,000.00, while in 142 
years the United States has accumulated $400,000,000,- 
000.00. No other nation of the world has approximated 
such stupendous strides in material possessions as has 
America. Past history proves that excessive accumu¬ 
lated wealth may become a curse rather than a blessing. 
( 19 ) 


20 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


America is the idol of her citizenry. They will rise 
above the greed of gain. They will subordinate the spirit 
of sordidness to that of altruism. They will build an 
enduring, individual and national character. 

The future of this nation is contingent upon the spirit 
of her people, and her paramount work is to implant virile 
Americanism in her youth and foreign-horn population. 

Intelligent patriotism, not fanatical enthusiasm, is its 
goal—a unity of patriotic principle carried out in energetic 
co-operation. 

In the realm of education, especially during the past 
decade, new and improved methods of instruction have 
been introduced in the schools. Modern textbooks are 
being introduced that are in keeping with the intellectual 
and commercial growth of the nation. In no department 
has there been so little change and advancement as in the 
textbooks of history. Those now used are largely records 
of wars and warriors, consequently the ideas and ideals 
that are placed before the young are those of the battle¬ 
field. Their conception of greatness is to lead an army, 
and their idea of bravery is to follow the leader to the 
battlefront. 

The truly great men of history—those who have done 
most for mankind—are not destructionists but construc¬ 
tionists. Alexander of Macedon is being placed before 
the American youth as a model of greatness. Historians 
linked a title with his name, and for nearly two thousand 
years he has been known as Alexander the Great. Was 
Alexander great? As a warrior, yes; but is that the meas¬ 
ure of true greatness? He slew his best friend and ad¬ 
visor in a raging passion because the friend differed with 
him. Alexander died at the age of thirty in a drunken 
orgy. His life is typical of many other warriors of 
history. 

Hannibal, Caesar, and Napoleon were great men; but 


CITIZENSHIP AND PATRIOTISM 


21 


history magnifies their prowess in war, and gives little 
emphasis to their statesmanlike virtues. Napoleon’s gen¬ 
eralship and triumphs in battle are glorified rather than 
the “Code Napoleon”. Caesar was a statesman, but it is 
not his genius in statecraft that is being magnified, but 
his strategy as a warrior. 

True greatness is not easily defined. Depth of spirit, 
breadth of intellect, and warmth of heart are integral 
elements. 

Pasteur of France, whose scientific genius lengthened 
the life of mankind, was a greater benefactor of the race 
than was Napoleon. Italian history idealizes Garibaldi as 
a warrior, but says little of Michael Angelo who was not 
only a statesman but a benefactor to mankind in literature 
and art. 

The heroes of peace have done as much in uplifting man¬ 
kind as have the heroes of war. The men and women 
who have achieved distinction in the industrial, economic, 
and scientific worlds and in the realms of art and literature 
should receive the same recognition as that accorded war¬ 
riors. Our nation has honored the heroes of war by plac¬ 
ing monuments, memorials and statues throughout the 
country, but no such appreciation has been shown the 
leaders who, through constructive ideas and ideals, con¬ 
tributed largely in the upbuilding of the nation. 

The victorious termination of the World War was con¬ 
summated by a concerted and united effort of the whole 
people. The workers in the shops and fields of the warring 
nations were as truly a part of the armies as the men in 
the trenches. These countries were vast camps, in which 
the entire population was engaged in subsidiary military 
service. 

Equality of opportunity, which democracy guarantees 
has its counterpart in equality of responsibility. The 
burdens of government should rest equally upon the shoul- 


22 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


ders of all. There must pervade our citizenship a public¬ 
spiritedness that will submerge all differences and unify 
the people in loyalty and devotion to the country. The 
American heart should beat with a steady stroke for 
America; at the same time be ever responsive to the need 
of fellow-nations. 

The war has shifted the center of gravity of world af¬ 
fairs. It has made the United States a world power, and 
world issues are her issues. Her isolation is gone. Her 
inventive genius, by giving to the world the aeroplane, the 
submarine and the radio, has destroyed the protecting 
power of the elements and robbed her of two great allies, 
the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. 

The United States is closer to Europe today than was 
Virginia to Massachusetts at the time of the American 
Revolution. This situation calls for a new conception of 
citizenship. In order to perform her enlarged duties in¬ 
telligently, her people must be internationally informed. 
They must have an understanding of world-races, world- 
history, and world-movements; they must comprehend the 
scope and meaning of foreign policies. An intelligent 
patriotism is imperative if she is to vindicate the past, 
maintain the present, and rise to the future destinies fore¬ 
shadowed by the vigor of her people and the vastness of 
her resources. 

It has long been recognized by educators and leaders 
of thought that biographical history is a most fascinating 
and inspiring study. Nothing is so calculated to stir 
the imagination, and fire the ambition as the contemplation 
of deeds of great men and women. “The proper study 
of mankind is man. 5 ’ There is in the heart of everyone an 
intuitive desire to gain an insight into the methods that 
motivate hero-life. What man or woman has not longed 
to live within some idealized hero, to study the riddle of the 
universe through his eyes, to learn the secrets of his power, 
and to know the innermost heart of his mystery? 


CITIZENSHIP AND PATRIOTISM 23 


“History is the essence of innumerable biographies.” 
The very soul of history is biography—it is life, not theory. 
These considerations have led the author to adopt the 
biographical and psychographical method as being the 
most effective for his purpose. 

A knowledge of the biography of the achievers of the 
world would be a liberal education; for true biography 
not only portrays the career of the individual, but reflects 
the life of his time and gives an insight into the customs and 
spirit of the people. Men and movements are as in¬ 
separable as the brain and heart. The developing forces 
of civilization, have had their birth in the minds and hearts 
of individuals of insistent initiative. By studying the char¬ 
acters and achievements of the world’s patriots the vision 
will he clarified, the patriotic devotion deepened and the 
life more fully consecrated to the service of the country. 

The author has endeavored to recite, in a simple and 
succinct manner, the achievements of patriots and states¬ 
men of other nations as well as those of America, and to 
characterize the part they played in molding the spirit of 
their respective countries. 

He has approached this subject with an unbiased and 
open mind. His central idea has been to portray the 
highest type of citizenship, keeping ever in mind the 
fundamentals of civil government. He has exercised a 
profound respect for his fellow-men, regardless of race, 
religion or creed. 

He does not prescribe rules or fixed laws but believes that 
his ideas will be actualized through the study of these 
worthy men and women. 

This volume is sent forth with a yearning desire that the 
precepts and principles exemplified by these characters 
may become an integral part in the lives of all who read 

WORLD PATRIOTS. 


























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JOHN MARSHALL 
From the portrait by Chester Harding 






JOHN MARSHALL 


THE MAN WHO PERSONIFIED^ INTERPRETED AND MAGNIFIED 
AMERICAN CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

1755-1835 

I N the mountain range of American citizenship and 
patriotism, tower seven peaks, symbolic of the seven 
men whose fearless devotion to their country places 
their names above their co-workers in establishing Ameri¬ 
ca’s independence. 

John Marshall stands among the foremost patriots of 
the Revolutionary Period. Although our Revolutionary 
forefathers were striving to attain America’s independ¬ 
ence and establish a sound and workable government, his¬ 
tory reveals these men had individual places to fill, and in 
the founding of this Democratic-Republic, some are cred¬ 
ited with having accomplished more than others. 

Marshall was born in Virginia—the home of soldiers, 
orators, statesmen and jurists. His father and mother 
were of the English gentry, descendants of the best blood 
Old England produced. He was born in 1755 shortly 
after Braddock’s defeat by the French and Indians. Brad- 
dock’s defeat, and the bravery and strategy that Wash¬ 
ington manifested in this battle, brought to the American 
Colonies the realization that they were more capable of 
defending themselves than England was of protecting 
them. This experience sowed the seed of confidence and 
courage that matured into the Revolutionary War. 

When a lad, Marshall’s father moved from Fauquier 
County, Virginia and established a new colony in the valley 
of the Blue Ridge Mountains. At this time the country 
(25) 


26 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


was sparsely settled, the nearest neighbor being 23 miles 
away. There were no schools in these frontier regions, 
and young Marshall’s early education was confined to the 
teachings of his father and mother. He was a lover of 
nature, and many of his idle moments were spent roaming 
through the forests and along the banks of streams. This 
had a marked effect upon his mental and spiritual nature 
as well as his physical development. 

During Marshall’s seventeenth year a young Scotch 
clergyman, James Thompson, came to live with the Mar¬ 
shall family. Thus it came about that John Marshall re¬ 
ceived the first of his three short periods of formal school¬ 
ing. A year later he was sent to the Military Academy 
of Reverend Archibald Campbell in Westmoreland Coun¬ 
ty. Although he attended the Academy for only a few 
months, that brief period was worth much in teaching 
him methods of thought and study. 

At this period Marshall’s life was instilled with the 
spirit and eloquence of Patrick Henry. His father, 
Thomas Marshall, as Burgess supported Patrick Henry. 
He repeated to his son Henry’s famous speeches as they 
were delivered before the House of Burgesses in Virginia. 
Young Marshall memorized many of these speeches. This 
had a marked influence on his later life. Thus his early 
life was being moulded, and at the beginning of the Rev¬ 
olutionary War, although only nineteen, he was ready to 
take the field against the British. 

He was a soldier of renown in the American Revolution. 
From early childhood his father taught him the manual 
of arms. When trouble between the Colonies and 
Great Britain became apparent, John Marshall was pre¬ 
pared to take up arms in defense of independence. Dur¬ 
ing the ensuing four years he learned in a hard and bitter 
school the danger of provincialism and the value of na¬ 
tionalism. He volunteered to raise a company; so when 


JOHN MARSHALL 


27 


the contention between the Colonies and England became 
acute, he raised a company of young men and trained them. 
After drilling his company all day, he climbed upon a 
stump and delivered a stirring speech denouncing the 
British and magnifying the glories of liberty. This speech 
reflected Patrick Henry’s influence on his life. The com¬ 
pany Marshall trained was an integral part of the military 
organization known as “The Minute Men of Virginia”. 
After winning the battles of Great Bridge and Norfolk, 
the Minute Men were disbanded. Instead of remaining at 
home as a number of the minute men did, young Marshall 
and his father joined the army of Washington. Owing 
to the military training Marshall had received, he soon be¬ 
came lieutenant-captain and later was advanced to the 
rank of captain. 

In the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, and Mon¬ 
mouth, he was cool and courageous. He was greatly ad¬ 
mired by the men under his command. During the terrible 
winter at Valley Forge, he was ever cheerfully administer¬ 
ing to the needs of his men. 

After the battles of Stony Point and Powles Ridge the 
term of enlistment of Marshall’s company expired. A 
number of the men in this regiment would not re-enlist. 
This created an excess of officers and Marshall was left 
without a command. He was sent home to await develop¬ 
ments and was finally retired from the service, February 
12, 1781. As a soldier he learned many valuable lessons. 
Marshall’s constructive opinions were not made, they grew. 
They were not “the exclusive result of reasoning, they 
were the fruit of an intense and vivid human experience 
working upon a mind and character naturally cautious, con¬ 
structive and inclined to order and authority.” 

At the age of twenty-five, Marshall entered William and 
Mary College for the purpose of studying law. He at¬ 
tended the lectures of George Wythe, but owing to his 


28 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


finances was compelled to leave school at the end of six 
weeks. 

A few months after leaving college, equipped with the 
notes taken on Mr. Wythe’s lectures, he started the prac¬ 
tice of law in Richmond, Virginia. His first few years 
were filled with hardships, but he lost no opportunity to 
improve his mind. His clear and logical reasoning soon 
brought him recognition. 

In 1782 he was elected to the legislature of Virginia, 
and gained such distinction for his work that he was later 
chosen a delegate to the Virginia Convention that ratified 
the Constitution of the United States. He owed his 
election as a delegate to the convention to his individual 
strength and popularity with the people. He was openly 
for the proposed national government, and much credit is 
due him for its adoption. 

The Virginia contest was the only real debate upon the 
question of ratifying the Constitution. The majority of 
the people of Virginia were bitterly opposed to the pro¬ 
posed government. The establishing of the Constitution 
largely depended on the outcome of the Virginia Con¬ 
vention, for at this time Virginia was the most thickly pop¬ 
ulated and had greater wealth than any other state 
of the Union. The other states had opposed the adoption 
of the Constitution, but in Virginia “the array of ability, 
distinction and character on both sides was notable, bril¬ 
liant and impressive. The strongest debaters in the land 
were there. The most gifted orators and some of the 
most scholarly statesmen. Seldom in any land or age 
has so gifted and accomplished a group of men contended 
in argument at one time or place.” 

At the time the convention was called neither side could 
tell what the outcome would be. They immediately took 
up the debate clause by clause. The adoption of the Con¬ 
stitution was upheld by such able men as Madison, Pendle- 


JOHN MARSHALL 


29 


ton, Lee and Marshall; while the enemies of the Con¬ 
stitution were as ably represented by Mason, Benjamin 
Harrison, William Grayson and the Cicero of the Revo¬ 
lutionary period, Patrick Henry. Marshall was not called 
upon to give any of the constructive arguments in behalf 
of the Constitution. He was recognized as having the 
clearest analytical mind of any of the delegates. He lis¬ 
tened with intense interest to the speeches of the opposition, 
analyzing every argument. He was especially concerned 
with the arguments of Patrick Henry, and delighted in 
showing the fallacies of some of Henry’s arguments. His 
speeches were not eloquent, but strong, logical and con¬ 
vincing, and had a marked influence on a number of the 
delegates. Because of his geniality and integrity he was 
the best liked man in the convention. Though he lacked 
the college education of his compeers, he made his presence 
felt, and even his bitterest opponents respected and ad¬ 
mired him. 

During the convention Marshall entered the debate a 
number of times, always closing the argument on each 
clause. His argument on the judiciary clause was espec¬ 
ially potent. After an intense debate lasting three weeks, 
the Constitution was ratified by a vote of 89 to 79. 

After the adoption of the Constitution a feeling arose 
against many of its provisions. Every means was taken 
to overthrow the new national government. In the face 
of bitterest opposition Marshall championed the cause of 
the Constitutionalists. 

During the ensuing years amendments were made to 
the Constitution. Two political parties were established. 
The feeling between these parties was intense, each party 
severely criticizing the policies of the other. As a result 
Washington retired from office amid storms of popular 
hatred. 

Washington had appointed James Monroe Minister to 


30 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


France. Relations between France and the United States 
were anything but friendly. The French Government 
demanded the United States to pay her war debt, and the 
John Jay Treaty with Great Britain was openly de¬ 
nounced. France resented the Jay Compact and accused 
the American Government of violating her treaty with 
France, denounced her for ingratitude and abused her for 
undue friendship with Great Britain. In all this the French 
Directory was backed by the Democratic-Republican 
Party (the Jeffersonian Party) in the United States, 
which had become a distinctly French party. 

The French encouraged a piratical warfare upon A- 
merican commerce. In less than one year and a half more 
than 340 American vessels had been taken by French pi¬ 
rates, and over $50,000,000 worth of American property 
had been confiscated under the decree of the French Di¬ 
rectory. 

Ambassador Monroe had done nothing to relieve this sit¬ 
uation, and in reality was sympathetic with the actions of 
the French. Due to these facts, Washington recalled him 
and appointed Charles Pinckney as his successor. As 
soon as word reached Monroe, he began to make insinua¬ 
tions against Pinckney that branded him as an aristocrat. 
When Pinckney arrived in France the Directory was 
extremely discourteous. They refused to recognize him 
as America’s representative, threatened him with arrest, 
and ordered him out of the French Republic. The news 
of these outrages against the government reached America 
shortly after John Adams was inaugurated President. 
Adams at once endeavored to adjust these differences. 
John Marshall, a member of the Federalist Party, and 
Elbridge Gerry, a member of the Democratic-Republican 
Party, were chosen to assist Pinckney in carrying out the 
negotiations with France. They arrived in France at the 
time Napoleon had gained fame as a general. The 


JOHN MARSHALL 


31 


French Republic had fallen into the hands of a corrupt 
political ring, and the government was in a deplorable 
condition. The countries of Europe were paying large 
sums of money to purchase peace. If a country failed 
to meet the demands of the French, Napoleon with his 
invincible army would declare war against the offending 
nation. Holland with a population of less than 2,000,000 
was compelled to pay $60,000,000. The French Directory 
was draining the treasury of all Europe, and using the 
money for their personal gain. 

Upon their arrival in Paris, the envoy, composed of 
Marshall, Pinckney and Gerry, was treated with indif¬ 
ference. The Minister of France, Charles Maurice de 
Talleyrand, refused to meet them. After a few days 
Talleyrand, consented to give the ambassadors an audience, 
but refused to discuss the problems in hand. He immedi¬ 
ately began dictating the terms upon which the French 
Directory would listen to the proposals of America. His 
first demand was that the ambassadors should pay to the 
Directory $250,000 before they would he permitted a hear¬ 
ing. His next demand was that the United States should 
lend France a large sum of money to aid her in carrying 
on war. Marshall indignantly opposed Talleyrand’s pro¬ 
posal, and insisted upon formally presenting America’s 
position before the French Directory. 

From the first it was evident that Gerry was in sym¬ 
pathy with France. Many times during the negotiations 
he held secret conferences with Talleyrand and his agents, 
always refusing to disclose the nature of the meetings. 
He had been instructed by Jefferson and was merely car¬ 
rying out his instructions to the best of his ability. During 
the next few weeks the envoy was visited often by the 
agents of Talleyrand—always demanding the money for 
the bribe as well as the loan. These agents assured Mar¬ 
shall that nothing could be accomplished unless the money 


32 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


was iorthcoming. They went so far as to threaten the 
ambassadors with personal violence, and often referred to 
the military power of France and the achievements of her 
armies in dictating peace terms to the nations of Europe. 
Many times they reminded the envoys of the political in¬ 
fluence France already had within the borders of the 
United States through the Democratic-Republican Party. 
Talleyrand’s agents hinted at the possibility of war be¬ 
tween their country and the United States if the terms of 
the Directory were not met. France would not assure the 
envoys that American commerce and citizens would be pro¬ 
tected even if the demands were met. After weeks of 
waiting for a hearing, Marshall decided to write a letter 
to Talleyrand, stating America’s position. After two 
weeks of careful thought the letter was completed and 
delivered to Talleyrand. In this letter Marshall made it 
clear that if the envoys met the demands of France the 
United States could not maintain her neutrality, and that 
it meant the signing away of America’s liberty and inde¬ 
pendence. Talleyrand ignored this letter, but after re¬ 
peated demands answered it six weeks later. His reply 
not only criticized the American government, but was an 
insult to every true American, and especially to Marshall 
and Pinckney. It was evident that Talleyrand desired the 
return of Marshall and Pinckney to the United States, and 
wished Gerry to remain to complete the negotiations. 
Marshall’s reply to Talleyrand’s proposal was that no one 
member of the envoy could remain on a business committed 
to all three. 

After months of unsatisfactory negotiations Marshall 
and Pinckney returned to the United States, leaving Gerry 
in the hands of Talleyrand. 

A few weeks prior to Marshall’s return to the United 
States the actions of the French government were pub¬ 
lished in the papers of America. This aroused feelings of 


JOHN MARSHALL 


33 


indignation against the French government. Many French 
sympathizers upheld the firm stand taken by Marshall in 
the controversy. Upon his arrival in the United States 
Marshall was given an ovation that placed him among the 
heroes of his country. At a banquet given in Philadelphia 
in his honor, one of the guests uttered the sentiment of the 
nation when he said: “Millions for defense but not a cent 
for tribute.” 

Immediately after his return from France Marshall 
re-opened his law office. He made the statement that he 
would never enter politics again, but a few months later 
was prevailed upon to become a candidate for Congress. 
After a heated campaign, he was elected by a majority of 
108 votes. 

Congress furnished the arena where Marshall’s states¬ 
manship was emphasized. His political sagacity and cou¬ 
rageous devotion to his country was revealed in every 
speech, and his influence was felt in the shaping of national 
policies. While he was still in Congress President Adams 
appointed him Secretary of State. In that capacity he 
handled international aff airs with diplomacy, ever demand¬ 
ing that the rights of the United States should be pro¬ 
tected. 

At this time the government was in a state of turmoil. 
A number of Cabinet members had resigned and it was 
difficult to find suitable men who would fight to maintain 
the principles of American independence and liberty, as 
set forth in the Constitution. 

Marshall had already gained recognition for his judicial 
ability, and upon the resignation of Ellsworth was ap¬ 
pointed Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. 
Ellsworth was the first Chief Justice, but remained in of¬ 
fice only one year. As a jurist Chief Justice Marshall set 
a precedent in the history of the American bar. In the 
establishment of a permanent and enduring government 


34 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


new issues were constantly arising. Instead of questions 
pertaining to the affairs of kingdoms, autocracies and mon¬ 
archies, Marshall had to meet and solve new problems per¬ 
taining to a republic. The judiciary problems of the old 
world had been settled by the ablest jurists; but America’s 
questions were new problems that no nation had faced, and 
John Marshall proved himself an able pioneer in this 
field. 

In deciding the weighty matters of state that confronted 
this infant republic Marshall showed himself a master 
in the interpretation of the Constitution. It required the 
courage of a Napoleon to render, without partisanship, 
some of the decisions he was called upon to make. He 
realized whatever his decisions might be, they were certain 
to be disapproved by one or the other of the two contending 
political parties, at that time in the process of formation. 
The two parties were led by his close friends, Alexander 
Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. Had John Marshall 
lacked in legal lore or integrity he would certainly have 
rendered decisions that would have resulted in the down¬ 
fall of this country. Many of Marshall’s first and most 
important interpretations of the Constitution were con¬ 
sidered by the party of Jefferson as being partial to the 
party of Hamilton. 

Today this nation owes a debt of gratitude to John 
Marshall second only to the appreciation of the “father 
of his country”. On Marshall’s shoulders rested the final 
decisions of the laws of this new republic. For over a third 
of a century he faithfully and with great dignity and wis¬ 
dom filled this office, which American lawyers consider the 
highest in the land. He solved the many problems and 
vexing issues that confronted the political, social and fi¬ 
nancial destiny of the nation during its formative and most 
critical period. 

Judge Story, one of the ablest of American jurists. 


JOHN MARSHALL 


35 


says of Marshall’s decision on Constitutional law: “If all 
other of the Chief Justices’ arguments had perished, his 
luminous judgments on these occasions would have given 
an enviable immortality to his name.” 

The decision that Marshall handed down from the final 
Court of Appeals on a single case would have made him 
immortal. This famous case was argued by Marshall in 
Congress on March 4, 1800, in defending President Adams 
for the surrender of a sailor named Thomas Nash. He was 
claimed by the British as a fugitive from justice. He had 
committed a murder on board a British frigate, navigating 
the high seas under a commission from his Brittanic Maj¬ 
esty, and had sought protection within the United States. 
The guilty man’s delivery was demanded by the ambassa¬ 
dor of Great Britain. Marshall’s speech on this occasion 
settled for all time whether such cases should be decided 
by the executive or by the judiciary department of the 
Federal Government. Griswold says in his “Prose Writers 
of America”, that John Marshall’s argument on that oc¬ 
casion deserves to be ranked among the “dignified dis¬ 
plays of human intellect”. This argument was but the 
beginning of this great man’s judicial study, and decisions, 
for which he afterwards became famous. Every mind as¬ 
piring for legal lore should study this famous case, which 
for strength and balance is a masterpiece. The decision 
rendered in this case settled for all time one of the most 
delicate questions of international relations in the history 
of jurisprudence. 

Another noted case was the Dartmouth College Case 
which settled for all time the question of contracts. The 
opinion given in this case was one of the most influential 
decisions ever rendered by any court, and had marked in¬ 
fluence on the development of the United States. At this 
time there was a tendency among several of the states to 
violate constitutional rights by legislating against individ- 


36 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


uals and corporations. The decision rendered by Marshall 
in the Dartmouth College case excluded state interference 
with individual contracts and defined the rights of corpora¬ 
tions. 

During the thirty-four years Marshall served as Chief 
Justice of the Supreme Court many weighty problems 
were brought to his attention and in every case his decisions 
were honest, open-minded and fair. He considered the 
Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the 
United States the most important documents ever written. 

Although Marshall was very feeble and in ill health 
during the last years of his service, his mind remained clear 
and his speeches were characteristically forceful even to 
the very last. At his death on July 6, 1835, the tribute 
paid by a grateful nation to his memory was second only 
to that paid Washington. The “Richmond Whig and 
Public Advertiser” expressed the feeling of the people in 
these words: “No man has lived or died in this country 
save its father, George Washington, who united such a 
warmth and affection for his person with so deep and 
unaffected respect for his character, and admiration for 
his great ability. No man ever bore public honors with so 
meek a dignity. It is hard to conceive of a more perfect 
character than his, for who can point to a vice, scarcely to 
a defect—or who can name a virtue that did not shine con¬ 
spicuously in his life and conduct.” 















GEORGE WASHINGTON 





























GEORGE WASHINGTON 


THE FATHER OF REPUBLICS 

1732-1799 

G eorge Washington stands unique and 

apart, in monumental solitude, one of the greatest 
world patriots. No statesman or warrior challenges 
his pre-eminent place in the annals of history. Bismarck, 
Cavour, Bolivar, Hidalgo, Peter the Great and Lincoln 
are high examples of citizenship and patriotism, but the 
crowning statesman, warrior, executive and world patriot 
is Washington. 

George Washington is rightly called the “Father of his 
Country,” but broadly speaking, he is “The Father of 
Modern Republics,” for he wrought out the model which 
inspired the formation of all the republics of the world 
save Switzerland. 

Simon Bolivar, in 1806, visited the United States and 
returned home so saturated with the spirit of Washing¬ 
ton that he instigated the construction of five republics, 
thus winning for himself the name of “Liberator of South 
America.” When San Martin of Argentine read the 
life of Washington and the Constitution of the United 
States, he was inspired to a valorous effort that finally 
established three more South American republics. La¬ 
fayette, fired by the spirit of the revolting colonists, came 
to America to offer his brilliant military gifts to Wash¬ 
ington and his cause. He returned to France so imbued 
with Washington’s spirit of freedom and independence 
that he gave his influence to the movement of reform 
which ultimately resulted in the present French republic. 
( 37 ) 


38 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


Lafayette sent the key of the fallen Bastile as a gift to 
Washington and the French people erected a splendid 
statue of Washington on the principal boulevard of Paris. 

The belief in man’s right to a voice in his government, 
and the justice of representative citizenship sank deep 
into the minds of the men of many nations at this period, 
even England adopted the liberal standards of Washing¬ 
ton’s platform, and today, though in name a kingdom, is 
more broadly democratic than is the republic Washington 
founded. King George of England has less power than 
the President of the United States. The spirit of de¬ 
mocracy is still growing; it has recently deposed a most 
autocratic ruler and laid the foundation of an independent 
Russia. One of the issues of the recent war was liberty. 
Democracy was arraigned against autocracy, and when 
democracy prevails the world should bow in profound 
reverence to George Washington the father of govern¬ 
mental freedom. 

Washington was born February twenty-second, 1732, 
at Bridges Creek, Virginia. His father was of aristo¬ 
cratic blood, and his mother a gentlewoman of grace and 
wisdom. He lived the life of the colonial families of 
his day, who were loyal to England, their mother country. 

When George was eleven years old his father, Au¬ 
gustine Washington, died, leaving his second wife, Mary, 
who was George’s mother, with four young children and 
two grown stepsons. Mary Washington was endowed 
with a strong will and ruled her household with a firm 
motherly hand. She trained her sons to be truthful, sin¬ 
cere and honest. 

George spent the first twelve years of his boyhood, 
during which he chopped the proverbial cherry tree and 
rode the famous colt, as a boy’s boy. He possessed the 
normal boy’s love of fun and mischief, was healthy and 
athletic, and excelled in out-of-door sports. He was fas- 


GEORGE WASHINGTON 


89 


cinated by the muscular powers of the Indians and as¬ 
pired to rival their feats of strength. This sympathetic 
understanding of the Indians perhaps saved his life later 
when dealing with them as a soldier. 

At one time he felt the call of the sea and vainly 
pleaded with his mother to be allowed to be a sailor. His 
half-brother Lawrence realized his intense disappointment 
and invited him to his home at Mount Vernon where he 
completed his education and grew into young manhood. 
Lawrence Washington had been educated in England and 
had married into the cultured family of Lord Fairfax, 
an accomplished Englishman, who had experienced life’s 
disappointments without becoming embittered by them. 
He had come to spend his later days enjoying the freedom 
of his vast inheritance in Virginia. From Lord Fairfax 
Washington learned that knowledge of man and manners 
which no school can give, that poise and dignity of bearing 
which were so valuable throughout his life. 

Washington’s youth was not fraught with the hard¬ 
ships and trials of poverty which often make stepping- 
stones to an achieving career; however, in early boyhood 
he possessed the traits of leadership, which neither pros¬ 
perity nor reverses could turn aside. He grew from a 
manly boy into a manly man. His innate passion for 
leadership welled up to the surface, and even his amuse¬ 
ments took on a military aspect. Irving said: “He made 
soldiers of his schoolmates. They had their mimic parades, 
reviews and sham fights.” George was commander-in¬ 
chief of the school. 

Maturing early he made his first step in business at six¬ 
teen. He was surveyor by choice and training—a profes¬ 
sion which in that day required a knowledge of woodcraft 
as well as mathematics. Lord Fairfax entrusted to him 
the task of defining the boundaries of the Fairfax estate 
beyond the ridge of the Alleghanies, The elderly English 


40 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


aristocrat and the young Virginia gentleman were much 
together and became devoted friends. 

Washington was large in body, tall, muscular, strong, 
long of arm and big of wrist. His dominant will showed 
in the decisive cut of his jaw; the light of purpose shone 
through his gray blue eyes, giving evidence of a strong 
nature. 

For three years he toiled as a surveyor, living a rough 
pioneer life, strengthening his muscles, hardening him¬ 
self to exposure and fatigue, accustoming himself to risks 
and perils, engraving on his character self-confidence and 
self-reliance. 

A short time before Lawrence Washington’s death he 
gave George his place in the Virginia militia, and soon 
he was commissioned a major and adjutant-general. The 
governor selected him to make the dangerous mid-winter 
journey through the forests to the French fort to warn 
the French that they were trespassing on English soil. 
The expedition was full of peril and hardships. Ac¬ 
companied by only seven men, he made his way to the Ohio 
River through seven hundred and fifty miles of almost 
unbroken wilderness. There he delivered! his message 
and set out in the dead of night to retrace his dreary route. 
His footsteps were dogged by Hophill Indians, whom 
the French had enlisted to fight for them, but he dealt with 
them with remarkable cleverness by exciting their personal 
admiration for his physical strength. On one occasion he 
entered a village in full Indian regalia, minus only the 
war paint, and so excited the warriors in feats of strength 
and prowess that they named him “Conotancarious,” 
“plunderer of villages,” and suggested that he take to wife 
an Indian maiden and remain with them as chief. 

But that perilous mission to the French was in vain. 
They refused to heed the warning, and continued to en¬ 
croach upon English territory. War between England 


GEORGE WASHINGTON 


41 


and France ensued. England sent her troops, m com¬ 
mand of General Braddock, expecting to make short work 
of her foes. Braddock, however, unskilled in pioneer and 
forest warfare, and unheedful of the advice of Washing¬ 
ton, whom he had made a member of his staff, made an 
open siege upon Fort Duquesne. He was attacked from 
behind by an unseen enemy and seriously wounded. Wash¬ 
ington was left to conduct the retreat. This he did with 
such skill that he was recognized by his superior officers as a 
s : ngularly resourceful soldier. On his return to Virginia 
he became the chief stay of his province in guarding her 
frontiers against the savages. 

At this time he was not only a daring young soldier 
but was conspicuous in social life. He loved society and 
entered into it with characteristic whole-heartedness. Bril¬ 
liant, courteous, gallant, he was welcomed into the gayest 
circles of Virginia. Impulsive by nature, he was susceptible 
to feminine charms. His succession of youthful romantic 
affairs merited the oft cited tale of his impetuous proposal 
upon first meeting Miss Philipse, the most sought-after 
heiress in America, and her equally prompt refusal. 

Not long afterwards, while riding from Mount Ver¬ 
non to Williamstown with dispatches, he was invited to 
dine with a friend. There he met Mrs. Martha Custis, 
a wealthy young widow. He lingered, entranced, while 
his faithful black servant, “Billy,” paced his impatient 
horse back and forth before the window. Mrs. Custis 
was pretty and self-possessed and had that acquired sweet¬ 
ness which often comes to a woman who has become a 
mother and a widow before care and age have checked 
the first full tide of her life. At sundown he departed, 
only to return on his way to the frontier to make an 
impetuous offer of marriage. This romantic and auda¬ 
cious courtship of but a single day resulted in their be¬ 
trothal, and five months later he married and settled down 
to the placid life of a Virginia planter. 


42 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


Througn this marriage Washington’s estate was con¬ 
siderably augmented, for Mrs. Washington’s portion of 
the Custis property was 15,000 acres of land, over two 
hundred negroes and ten thousand pounds; this heritage, 
added to Washington’s fortune, distinguished him as the 
richest man in America. His wealth was estimated at 
$800,000. 

Mount Vernon, the home he inherited from his brother 
Lawrence, was his chief source of enjoyment. He de¬ 
veloped and enlarged it into a successful plantation. 
Watchful, systematic, energetic, with an insatiable relish 
for being out-of-doors, he personally supervised the es¬ 
tate. It was a perfectly conducted farm, typical of the 
man. Agriculture, however, was only one of the pur¬ 
suits on the Washington estate, which was a distinct and 
self-supporting community with some three hundred peo¬ 
ple, mostly slaves, busily engaged in various kinds of 
labor. The plantation had its own blacksmiths, brick- 
makers, shoemakers, carpenters, masons, gardeners, staff 
of mill operators, coopers, weavers and plowmen. They 
supplied not only the plantation with ample food and 
products, but also the village stores for miles around. 

Washington was a kind firm master. His slaves en¬ 
joyed many privileges, which were rarely transgressed. 
He was especially devoted to his body servant “Billy,” 
who assisted him in his surveyings and who was his con¬ 
stant bodyguard and companion during the war. Though 
an extensive slave holder, he was ready to promote any 
feasible plan that promised its abolishment. To a Penn¬ 
sylvanian he expressed the sentiment: 

“I hope it will not be conceived from these observa¬ 
tions that it is my wish to hold the unhappy people, who 
are the subject of this letter, in slavery. I can only say 
that there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely 
than I do to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it; 


GEORGE WASHINGTON 


43 


but there is only one proper and effectual mode by which 
it can be accomplished, and that is by legislative author¬ 
ity; and this, as far as my suffrage will go, shall never 
be wanting.” 

Mount Vernon was a center of unbounded hospitality. 
It became a “well-resorted tavern.” Washington often 
said that his greatest pleasure was companionship with 
intimate friends. A day spent at Mount Vernon with¬ 
out company was unusual. In his diary we often find 
Hamilton, Jefferson, Adams, Monroe, Lafayette, Mar¬ 
shall, Jay, Robert Morris and other leading men of that 
period dining with him and even spending days and weeks 
at the historic mansion on the Potomac. 

Washington became a member of the House of Bur¬ 
gesses, from Frederick County, which held annual sessions 
at Williamsburg. At first he was awkward upon the floor, 
but each year gained more ease and eloquence. His life 
gradually broadened about him, and with maturity came 
experience and understanding. 

From the beginning of the English colonial quarrels 
he took an active part in asserting the rights of the Col¬ 
onies and informing the Committee of Correspondence, 
which had for its object the “maintaining of the liberty 
which they had derived from their ancestors.” He was 
not a political agitator, such as Samuel Adams, who 
planned with unerring intelligence to bring about inde¬ 
pendence. On the contrary, Washington longed and hoped 
for conciliation; but with remarkable foresight, he early 
realized that war was inevitable. He was preparing him¬ 
self quietly and resignedly for the struggle while other 
statesmen, more brilliant, were waiting for the dawn of 
understanding. The military uniform in which he ap¬ 
peared at the first Continental Congress of Philadelphia, 
to which he was a delegate, gave visible manifestation of 
his conviction and the extent to which the fire of his 
patriotism had led him. 


44 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


Patrick Henry said on June fifteenth, 1775: “If you 
speak of solid information and sound judgment, Colonel 
Washington is unquestionably the greatest man on the 
floor.” When Congress, weary of fruitless protest against 
England’s tyranny, weary of waiting for even faint 
promises of reconciliation, decided that revolt was nec¬ 
essary, all minds seemed to turn to Washington. John 
Adams perceived in him the right man to entrust with 
the leaderships of the Continental Army and nominated 
him for Commander-in-Chief. The members of the famous 
body who voted unanimously for him were the ablest men 
of the country—Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, 
Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson— 
but none of them realized so fully as Washington the 
gravity of the situation. Instead of a united nation the 
colonies were thirteen detached units, weak, distrustful, 
jealous, with little in common save their hatred for Eng¬ 
land. Many individuals were still loyal to the mother- 
country and revered her crown. They had no taste for a 
rebellion that would take their lives and lay waste their 
lands. The leader of such an army had first to harmonize 
the allies before he could defeat the enemy. This Wash¬ 
ington set about to do. His purpose was to create a vig¬ 
orous public sentiment which would make the Continental 
Congress dominant. He turned the minds of his generals 
to Congress and invited the assemblies of the several colo¬ 
nies to recognize the same central power. He saw and felt 
the need of a national spirit, and his highest achievement 
was in bringing the people to the idea of nationality. This 
phase of his work has not been sufficiently recognized. In 
fact all his military success would have come to naught 
had it not been for his gift of nationalizing his country. 
His central purpose throughout his public career was to 
bring all the colonies into a self-sustaining, efficient gov¬ 
ernment, not dependent upon any man for its perpetuity, 
but upon the patriotism and loyalty of all men. 


GEORGE WASHINGTON 


45 


He accepted his commission with a mixture of modesty 
and pride that evoked high admiration. He wrote his 
wife, “You may believe me, my dear Patsy, when I assure 
you in the most solemn manner that, so far from seeking 
this appointment, I have used every endeavor in my power 
to avoid it, not only from my unwillingness to part 
with you and the family, but from a consciousness of its 
being a trust too great for my capacity. But as it has 
been a kind of destiny that has thrown me upon this service, 
I shall hope that my undertaking is designed to answer 
some good purpose.” 

Two days later he started across country to take com¬ 
mand of the army at Cambridge. “That noble figure drew 
all eyes to it, that mien as if the man were a prince; that 
sincere and open countenance which every man could see 
was lighted by a good conscience; that cordial ease in 
salute, as if a man who felt himself brother to his friends.” 
It was a man in the prime of life fitted to inspire courage 
in the people and to make their hearts grow strong, who 
rode through the colonies to take charge of their insurgent 
army. Mankind is ever impressed by externals, but beneath 
the stately form, the courageous countenance, the military 
bearing, those humble countrymen saw in the Virginia 
gentleman an honesty and sincerity of purpose that stirred 
their hearts to patriotism and their hands to battle. 

The gigantic task committed to Washington was appall¬ 
ing. He was to oppose the mightiest empire in the world. 
A nation with a naval and military power unparalleled. 
A kingdom with a record of hundreds of years of triumph 
and conquest. The magnitude of the herculean task is 
more apparent when we realize that the colonies were not 
yet an organized nation and the entire population was only 
three million eight hundred thousand, and eight hundred 
thousand of these were slaves and a great number of these 
citizens were in sympathy with England. 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


As Commander-in-Chief Washington’s first task was to 
drive the British from Boston; to do this he was given a 
force of 14,000 country lads, brave and enthusiastic, but 
utterly devoid of discipline, and unequipped with uniforms 
or arms. There were no resources to draw upon for neces¬ 
sary provisions. The provinces were totally ignorant of the 
details of war and of the principles of organization. Grad¬ 
ually Washington taught them to provide for their needs. 
Little by little he trained new privateers, and organized 
companies, disciplined and ranked the officers, who were as 
ignorant of military tactics as the troops themselves. 
Although overwhelmed with the cares immediately sur¬ 
rounding him, he was not unmindful of the country at 
large. He planned campaigns, distant and near, and 
supervised a multitude of preliminary details that demand¬ 
ed prompt and vigorous execution. By gripping every 
task and pushing it to its finish he supplied one deficiency 
after another until the time for the siege of Boston was 
imminent. 

A body of British troops, as well trained and equipped 
as Europe could produce, occupied Boston. General Howe 
was in command, and the British fleet held the harbor. 
Secure in the knowledge of their superior forces, they 
placidly awaited extra guns from England. On the eve¬ 
ning of March fourth, 1776, they saw the sun sink calmly 
over the hills of Dorchester and were amused by the noise 
of occasional cannonading from the three divisions of 
Washington’s little army stationed at Roxbury, Summer¬ 
ville and East Cambridge. But while these fireworks 
amused the enemy, Washington was busy moving wagons, 
timber, tools, ox-carts, bales of hay, provisions and men 
up the hills. The rising sun revealed such a display of 
ramparts and cannons on Dorchester Heights that the 
enemy quickly embarked 8,000 troops and 1,000 citizens 
of Boston and set sail for Halifax, They left behind them 


GEORGE WASHINGTON 


47 


200 cannons and much military store. Washington estab¬ 
lished himself in General Howe’s headquarters, having 
won a brilliant victory without loss of life or property 

Rut Washington did not waste his time in luxurious 
ease. When he saw the British fleet disappear from 
Boston Harbor, he waved a good-bye, saying: “We 
shall see you again,” for he knew full well that the defeat 
had but intensified the struggle and that England would 
double her reinforcements in the spring. 

New York, open to the sea and without protection of 
fort or fleet, would naturally be the point of attack, so 
Washington set out to control the Hudson, which would 
probably be the command of the continent. 

Throughout the years that followed his triumphs were 
mingled with opposition, censure and defeat, hut with 
his patriotism and courage ever at white heat he met suc¬ 
cess and defeat with equal dignity and reserve. The 
Declaration of Independence on the following July 
fourth, and the defeat at New York, August twenty- 
seventh, were exigencies that equally stiffened his tem¬ 
per and added daring to his spirit. The taunts of ene¬ 
mies, the indifference and the rebukes of Congress, the 
desertions of his men, the offers of reconciliation and 
privileges by England served only as stimulants that 
nerved him to the master-move made on the memorable 
Christmas night, when, through pitch darkness and 
grinding ice, he crossed the Delaware and walked nine 
miles through blinding snow to Trenton. “They marked 
their journey by the blood of their naked feet.” As he 
neared the town, held by Hessians, word came to him 
that his guns were wet. “Use the bayonet,” said he, “the 
town must be taken.” He captured 2,000 Hessians and 
lost but three men. 

Although Washington’s courage seldom waned, his 
countrymen were often discouraged, not because their 


48 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


ideals sank, but because Congress had failed to provide 
bread for the patriotic soldiers who were fighting and 
starving for the cause of liberty and independence. 
Loyalists and Tories and timid men, who believed suc¬ 
cess impossible, plotted against Washington. He met 
the conspiracy—the so-called Conway Cabal—with his 
wonderful self-control, effaced it quietly and calmly and 
spoke not a word of reproach. “The ultimate secret of 
greatness is neither physical nor intellectual, but moral. 
It is the capacity to lose self in the service of something 
greater. It is the faith to recognize a star, the will to 
obey it, and the strength to follow it.” Washington’s 
ideal did not waver, but the stab at his heart sent him 
out to a solitary bank of snow to seek healing of God. 
The prayerfulness and patience of the man were phe¬ 
nomenal; this leader and master of men and affairs was 
intent and imperative, but he never stormed, except on 
rare occasions, when his passion became a torrent of in¬ 
vectives. 

The growing greatness of Washington with the pass¬ 
ing of time is manifest. His leading English biographer, 
Lord Charnwood, says: “The American cause was hope¬ 
less but for the commanding genius of Washington 
and his moral authority.” The eminent English essayist, 
Frederick Scott Oliver, says: “Washington occupies a 
unique position, because it has never been possible to 
praise him beyond his merits.” 

At a time when the country was in desperate straits, 
without food for the army or money to pay the soldiers, 
who were deserting in hundreds, Washington alone kept 
heart and patiently endured and waited for the moment 
of final victory. His individual fortune was unstintedly 
used in times of need. His army in 1776 numbered 89,- 
640, but it soon began to dwindle; in 1778 only 70,000 
remained, in 1779, 60,000. In four years it had been re- 


GEORGE WASHINGTON 


49 


duced to 50,000, and at the close of the war it numbered 
only 29,000. 

Clinton was in New York Harbor with his fleet. 
Washington was still holding the Hudson Bay region. 
The British under Lord Cornwallis took up a position 
on the York River and at Yorktown threw up strong 
fortifications and established a line of batteries along 
the river. Gen. Lafayette at once began to maneuver 
against Cornwallis and the French fleet under De Grasse 
entered the Chesapeake and so cut off communication 
with Clinton at New York. Washington now prepared 
for the final drama of the Revolutionary War. He 
issued several fake orders purporting a vigorous move¬ 
ment on New York, and these orders were contrived to 
fall into Clinton’s hands, which, as was intended, greatly 
alarmed him. At the strategic moment Washington cut 
loose from the Hudson and advanced by forced marches 
to Yorktown. Clinton refused to believe that Washing¬ 
ton had ventured on such an audacious and courageous 
move. With a combined army of Frenchmen and Amer¬ 
icans numbering 16,000 he suddenly invested Yorktown. 
It was a master stroke. Cornwallis was caught in a 
trap and forced to surrender. Washington had won 
the independence of his country and set for the world 
an example of generalship that mankind will admire to 
the end of time. 

Just in what point lay his success as a general is diffi¬ 
cult to define. Frederick the Great sent him a sword 
bearing this inscription, “From the oldest general in the 
world to the greatest.” Washington was a versatile 
and resourceful general. In open battle he was reck¬ 
less, daring and fearless. In advance he flamed with a 
passion for fight. In retreat he was marvelous in con¬ 
trol, calculating, alert to the slightest opportunity of 
rebound. He excelled in the power to gain advantage 


50 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


by retreat. He could fight to the end; he could wait, or 
he could maneuver. 

Washington resigned his commission with these words 
to Congress: 

“Mr. President: The great events, on which my resig¬ 
nation having at length taken place, I have now the honor 
of offering my sincere congratulations to Congress and 
of presenting myself before them, to surrender into their 
hands the trust committed to me, and to claim the in¬ 
dulgence of retiring from the service of my country. 

“Happy in the conformation of our independence and 
sovereignty, and pleased with the opportunity afforded 
the United States of becoming a respectable nation, I 
resign with satisfaction the appointment I accepted with 
diffidence; a diffidence in my abilities to accomplish so 
arduous a task, which, however, was superseded by a 
confidence in the rectitude of our cause, the support of 
the supreme power of the Union, and the patronage of 
Heaven. The successful termination of the war has 
verified the most sanguine expectations; and may grati¬ 
tude for the interposition of Providence, and the assist¬ 
ance I have received from my countrymen, increases 
with every review of the momentous contest.’’ Then, 
after a word of gratitude to the army and to his staff, 
he concludes: “I consider it an indispensable duty to 
close this last solemn act of my official life by commend¬ 
ing the interests of our dearest country to the protection 
of Almighty God, and those who have the superintend¬ 
ence of them to His holy keeping. 

“Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire 
from the greatest theater of action; and bidding an 
affectionate farewell to this august body, under whose 
orders I have so long acted, I here offer my commission, 
and take my leave of all the employments of public life.” 

When the war was over his influence with both officers 


GEORGE WASHINGTON 


51 


and soldiers gave his patriotism its severest test. His 
heart went out to the brave men who had followed him, 
loved him, and never swerved in their loyalty to him. 
In fact, Washington’s affection for his men saved the 
cause of American independence more truly than did 
strategy and daring. Ignorant, unrealizing Congress, in 
principle opposing a standing army, passed no measures 
to reward the soldiers or to provide for the future of 
the men who had sacrificed their all for its cause. The 
officers resolved to meet with the ultimate purpose of 
resorting to force in order to obtain their just recom¬ 
pense; the army was in a ferment and planned to revolt. 
The situation was full of peril. A weak man would 
have held his peace, a rash one would have tried to sup¬ 
press the meeting; Washington did neither. He quietly 
took control of the whole movement himself and appointed 
a time and a place for the meeting. When the officers 
assembled he rose, with a manuscript in his hand, and, 
taking out his glasses, began: “You see, Gentlemen, I 
have grown both blind and gray in your service.” He 
appealed to their patriotism and exhorted them one and 
all to remain loyal and obedient, true to their glorious 
past and to their country. His address was brief and calm, 
but the clear, vigorous sentences were charged with mean¬ 
ing and deep feeling. His influence prevailed, and for 
love of him they swore allegiance to the government. 

Washington’s power had been supreme in the army— 
a supremacy gained by love, faith and confidence. He 
was their commander in war; they wanted him to be 
commander in peace. They offered him the position of 
Dictator—he could have reigned as king. His officers 
met and formulated a letter calling on him to assume abso¬ 
lute control of the government. His answer breathes the 
greatness and wisdom of the man: 

“With a mixture of surprise and astonishment I have 


52 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


read with attention the sentiments you have submitted 
to my perusal. Be assured, no occurrence in the course 
of the war has given me more painful sensations than 
your information of there being such ideas existing in 
the army as you have expressed, and which I must view 
with abhorrence and reprehend with severity. For the 
present the communication of them will rest in my own 
bosom, unless some further agitation of the matter shall 
make a disclosure necessary. I am much at a loss to 
conceive what part of my conduct could have given en¬ 
couragement to an address which seems to me big with 
the greatest mischiefs that can befall my country. If I 
am not deceived in the knowledge of myself, you could 
not have found a person to whom your schemes are more 
disagreeable. At the same time, in justice to my own 
feelings, I must add that no man possesses a more sin¬ 
cere wish to see justice done to the army than I do; 
and as far as my power and influence in a constitutional 
way extend, they shall be employed to the utmost of 
my abilities to effect it, should there be any occasion. 
Let me conjure you, then, if you have any regard for 
your country, concern for yourself or posterity, or re¬ 
spect for me, to banish these thoughts from your mind, 
and never communicate, as from yourself or anyone else, 
a sentiment of like nature.” Such words can come only 
from a true patriot 1 , a man whose self fades into insig¬ 
nificance when the issue becomes self or country. To 
put aside a crown for love of country is noble, but to 
look upon such an opportunity in such a light reveals a 
great soul. Washington fought for a cause and not for 
self-power, place or glory. He fought to make the colo¬ 
nies independent, and not to play the part of a Csesar 
or a Cromwell in the wreck and confusion of civil war. 
To him alone belongs the honor and aureola of having 
refused supreme rule and of having effected in the spirit 


GEORGE WASHINGTON 


53 


and under the forms of free government all and more 
than the most brilliant military chiefs have ever achieved 
through absolute power. 

In Virginia he sought to pick up the threads of his 
former life, to remedy the disorders caused by his ab¬ 
sence from his establishment, to throw himself vigorously 
into the pursuit of the hounds. He sought to relax, to 
rest, to return to his happy home; but the past broke in 
and would not be put aside; the present knocked at his 
door and demanded his strength. 

At the beginning of the war Washington had passed 
with a single step from being a Virginian to an Amer¬ 
ican—the first American. He could not step back. He 
must answer again the call to serve his country. He had 
perceived the greatness which tour future nation held, 
and sought to open up the western lands. Realizing that 
development of internal commerce was one of the first 
needs of a new country, he organized a company for 
the extension of navigation. He refused a gift of 150 
shares of stock in the company, saying that he could better 
serve the people in an enterprise if he were known to 
have no selfish interest in it. We marvel at the character 
of the man whom neither personal glory nor worldly 
emoluments could tempt. 

It was six years after independence was won before 
a constitution was formed and a president elected (1783- 
1789). This was the most critical period in the history 
of the new nation. The winning of American freedom 
was not of greater importance than the establishing of 
the American Union. The new republic had to form 
and organize an efficient government to insure the per¬ 
petuity of the freedom for which they had fought. Wash¬ 
ington was as dominant a factor in bringing this about 
as he was in winning the war. The Articles of Confedera¬ 
tion originated by Benjamin Franklin in 1775, though 


54 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


assuming “a perpetual union” and a “firm league of 
friendship,” remained in force thirteen years, until the 
Constitution was formed, but it failed utterly to bring 
strength or to give an efficient working basis for the new 
nation. It did not give Congress sufficient authority to 
run the government—its great defect was its failure to 
supply an executive head to the nation. 

The thirteen states were inviting disaster by nursing 
petty jealousies, when Washington, by the ardor of his 
desire and forcefulness of his will, led them to unite. 
He did it largely by means of private letters—a feeble 
instrument of today, but more effective then, when the 
nation was small and Washington’s influence so great. 
Many of his fellow-citizens had been inspired by the 
spirit of nationality, but Washington was wholly dom¬ 
inated by it. His conception was that of the states bound 
together into a perfect union. To him this was Ameri¬ 
canism. Washington himself became an American and 
then made his countrymen Americans. 

The chaotic condition of the states was becoming more 
alarming with the dawn of each day. Intrigue was under¬ 
mining the great work of Washington; even plots on 
his life were being nursed by those who could not under¬ 
stand the intricate and gradual processes of putting a 
new-born republic on a firm foundation. Stanch citizens 
were becoming disgusted by repeated disturbance and 
commotion, and were being “led by the insecurity of 
property, and the loss of public faith and rectitude, to 
consider the charms of liberty imaginary and delusive.” 
Signs of internal revolution were looming up in the dis¬ 
tant horizon like a mightly cloud that forecasts a tornado. 
The confederation, as Washington said, was little more 
than a shadow without the substance, for the thirteen states 
were in fact thirteen independent sovereignties, eternally 
counteracting each other. The seriousness of the impend- 


GEORGE WASHINGTON 


55 


ing crisis is evinced in a letter from Washington to James 
Madison, in which he said: 

“How melancholy is the reflection, that in so short a 
time we should have made such large strides towards 
fulfilling the predictions of our transatlantic foes: ‘Leave 
them to themselves, and their government will soon dis¬ 
solve.’ Will not the wise and good strive hard to avert 
this calamity? Wlhat stronger evidence can be given of 
the want of energy in our government than these dis¬ 
orders? If there is not power in it to check them, what 
security has a man for life, liberty or property? To 
you, I am sure, I need not add aught on the subject. The 
consequences of a lax or inefficient government are too 
obvious to be dwelt upon. Thirteen sovereignties pulling 
against each other, and all tugging at the federal head, 
will soon bring ruin on the whole; whereas, a liberal and 
energetic constitution, well checked and well watched to 
prevent encroachments, might restore us to that degree of 
respectability and consequence to which we had the fairest 
prospect of attaining.” 

Washington sounded the keynote when he proposed in 
this communication a “liberal and energetic constitution.” 
On May ninth, 1788, he set out from Mount Vernon to 
attend the Convention at Philadelphia, but it was not 
until May twenty-fifth that a quorum was finally assem¬ 
bled. Washington was unanimously called to the chair as 
President of the Convention. The sessions were secret, 
and from four to seven hours each day were assiduously 
devoted to the consideration of the many and voluminous 
propositions brought forward as constituent principles of 
the new government to be established. But no progress 
was evident. 

As he sat in the Convention listening to the quibbling, 
the vacillation, even the manifest fear of some of the mem¬ 
bers to do what they knew was right, foreseeing no definite 


56 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


decision, he rose from his chair and made a brief and 
effective speech. He said: “It is too probable that no 
plan will be adopted. Perhaps another dreadful conflict 
is to be sustained. If, to please the people, we offer what 
we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterwards defend 
our work? Let us raise the standard to which the wise 
and honest can repair; the event is in the hands of God.” 
These telling words sank deep into their hearts, and the 
Constitution was soon agreed upon. When it finally 
passed, the aged Franklin pointed to the picture of the 
half-sun on the back of Washington’s chair above the 
head of the presiding officer, and said: “I have looked 
at that picture for four months and could not decide 
whether it represented a rising or setting sun. This Con¬ 
vention has answered the question. It is a rising sun.” 

Gladstone, England’s “Grand Old Man,” said: “As 
the British Constitution is the most subtle organism which 
has proceeded from progressive history, so the American 
Constitution is the most wonderful work ever struck off 
at the given time by the brain and purpose of man.” 

The Constitution was forwarded to Congress, thence 
transmitted to the several states for ratification. If met 
with vehement opposition in many quarters. Only three 
states, New Jersey, Delaware and Georgia, accepted it 
at once, and unanimously. Conflicting opinions were 
expressed in debate and in the press. Some states feared 
the Constitution would have too little control over the 
individual states; others believed it too strong for their 
separate independence. But the storm of diverse criti¬ 
cism at length subsided and one state after another agreed 
to its adoption, thereby laying a lasting foundation for 
American tranquillity and happiness. 

“Long live George Washington, President of the 
United States!” cried Livingston to the people on that 
30th day of April, 1789, when Washington, in the pres- 


[GEORGE WASHINGTON 


57 


ence of a great concourse of people, standing in front of 
the Federal Hall in Wall Street, New York City, 
solemnly took the oath of office as first President of the 
United States. A great shout went up for the man who, 
famous for self-mastery, stood before them profoundly 
and visibly moved—speechless. He shrank from accept¬ 
ing the office of President of the new nation, doubtful 
of his ability as an executive, infinitely preferring to con¬ 
tinue his calm life in Virginia. He had said: “I’d rather 
be on my farm than emperor of the world.” Rut the whole 
country turned to him, duty called, and he obeyed; that 
obedience meant to Washington tasks more difficult than 
those of war. It meant the organization of a nation of 
peace, which should have for its aim the maintenance of 
peace. 

Washington considered himself a general, not a states¬ 
man ; a warrior, not an administrator. But he determined 
to master his new duties as an executive with a calm 
thoroughness of purpose which seemed at once to pass 
into the administration of the government. There was 
not only a government to be created, but a definite body 
of opinion also, which should sustain and perfect it. 
This government, as Washington said, must be mixed with 
firmness, prudence and consideration if it would win last¬ 
ing loyalty as well as respect. The dignity of the govern¬ 
ment had come into Washington’s keeping with his office 
and no one could better sustain it. Never haughty, never 
servile, profiting from the example of the correct Lord 
Fairfax, who had visited at every court of Europe and 
absorbed its etiquette, Washington established the office 
once for all with a dignity that gained the respect of the 
world. 

He first made himself familiar with governmental proc¬ 
esses, then established himself firmly as master, choos¬ 
ing his aids with keen discrimination. He selected a 


58 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


cabinet which in its aggregate ability has never been sur¬ 
passed: Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Henry 
Knox and Edmund Randolph. Here we see the mag¬ 
nanimity as well as perspicuity of the man who neither 
sought nor occupied a lonely eminence of unshared glory. 
“He was not of the jealous type of those who ‘Bear, like 
the Turk, no brother near the throne’ —nor of the temper 
of George III, ‘who chose ministers for their vacuous 
compliancy.’ ” He sought the fittest in the men whom he 
chose as counselors. Van Dyke says of him: “He stands 
in history not as a lonely pinnacle like Mount Shasta, 
elevated above the plain by ‘drastic lift of pent volcanic 
fires,’ but as the central summit of a mountain range, with 
all his noble fellowship of kindred peaks about him, en¬ 
hancing his unquestioned supremacy by their glorious 
neighborhood and their great support.” 

At the end of his second term as president, after over 
twenty years of strenuous public service, Washington 
again returned with Mrs. Washington to Mount Vernon. 
Almost three years were spent in the tranquil enjoyment 
of rural life before his death on December fourteenth, 
1799. During these years he resumed the duties of a 
citizen. He served on a grand jury and on petit juries, 
and invariably voted on election days. 

Washington served and achieved in a larger degree 
than any man of his time. He was an unusual patriot 
—he was big—he was unselfishly great. He is today a 
colossal figure in America and in the world. He yearned 
for the best for every nation and for the individual of 
every nation. He loved freedom, not only for his own 
nation, hut for all nations. Heroes and statesmen of the 
past had conceived and brought forth republics, but 
through personal ambitions or defective construction they 
soon perished. But the structure which Washington 


GEORGE WASHINGTON 


59 


created and guided for so many years has become the 
world’s most powerful nation. 

In service and achievement, he stands at the pinnacle 
of greatness. The richest heritage left by George Wash¬ 
ington to the world was a pattern of Citizenship and a 
model of Patriotism unexcelled in all history. 









































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SIMON BOLIVAR 










SIM6N BOLIVAR 


THE LIBERATOR AND BUILDER OF SOUTH AMERICAN 


REPUBLICS 


1783 - 1830 1 



HE people of South America represent such a 


great number of racial types that their civilization 


^ can not be intelligently considered except from 
Latin-American standards. The appreciation of Simon 
Bolivar, South America’s greatest patriot, requires a sym¬ 
pathetic understanding of his people, He himself said 
of them: 

“Bear in mind that our population is neither European 
nor American, but is rather a compound of African and 
American. Spain herself is less European than African 
in blood, institutions, and character. It is impossible to 
point out with propriety to what human family we belong. 
The greater part of the Aborigines have been annihilated, 
the European has mixed with the American, and the Af¬ 
rican has also mixed with the Indian and European. All 
children of the same mother, our fathers are of various 


1 In the writing of this chapter the author has had the collaboration 
of Dr. Charles Wilson Hackett, Associate Professor of Latin American 
History in the University of Texas; Corresponding Member of the 
Hispanic Society of America; and member of the Board of Associates 
of Current History. Dr. Hackett is the author of “The Delimitation 
of Political Jurisdictions in Spanish North America to 1535” (Balti¬ 
more, 1918); and numerous other historical monographs relating to 
Spanish America. He has edited, with comprehensive introductions and 
annotations, a volume published by the Carnegie Institution of Wash¬ 
ington, entitled: Historical Documents Relating to New Mexido, Nueva 
Vizcaya, and Approaches Thereto, to 1773, (Washington, 1923.) 


( 61 ) 



62 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


origin and blood and differ in figure and form from each 
other.” 

As late as the opening of the nineteenth century 
natives as well as colonials throughout Spanish America 
were in a state of oppression. From the very beginning 
of the colonial period the Spanish sovereigns had regarded 
the Indians as wards of the Crown and had promulgated 
humane laws aimed at their protection, their civilization, 
and their Christianization. As late as 1816 Ferdinand 
VII instructed a Spanish American Viceroy “to provide 
that the Indians should be well treated, taught the mys¬ 
teries of the Catholic faith, and ensured justice.” But 
wise and humanitarian laws had been abused in practice. 
Justice had been thwarted by conscienceless conquistadores 
and encomenderoSj or trustees of the Indians, and the vir¬ 
tual enslavement of the natives had been the result. The 
original twenty million native Indians of South America 
had been reduced to six million through hardship and ill- 
treatment suffered during the colonial regime. In 1800 
the majority of the Indians were in the Andean plateaus 
and in the temperate regions of New Granada, Peru, Chile 
and Bolivia. In some sections they had been almost wholly 
exterminated. Along the torrid coasts and lowlands of 
the Spanish Main, Brazil and Peru, the places of the In¬ 
dians had been taken by African slaves. As a result of the 
inter-mingling of the Spanish, Indian and African races 
an intermediate caste was formed on which devolved the 
exercise of all “vile occupations”, such as crafts, trade and 
industry, considered beneath the dignity of the Spanish 
hidalgo. 

With respect to her own colonials Spain had adopted 
neither a broad nor a generous course of action. With one 
exception the Bourbon kings of Spain after 1700 like all 
Bourbons everywhere “never learned anything,” and, 
throughout the entire colonial period, Spain’s over-seas 


SIMON BOLIVAR 


possessions continued to be regarded as existing solely for 
the benefit of the mother country. For this reason all 
political and economic preferments went to Peninsula, or 
native-born, Spaniards. Only in rare instances were co¬ 
lonial offices above that of provincial Governor filled with 
American-born Spaniards. Furthermore, commerce with 
the mother country as well as intercolonial commerce was 
stifled or retarded by a multiplicity of import and export 
duties and by prohibitive taxes. Until the closing years 
of the colonial period commerce was handled altogether 
in Spanish ships and was strictly supervised and main¬ 
tained as a Crown monoply for the exclusive benefit of 
Peninsula licensees of the Crown. For the purpose of 
preventing competition with the mother country even the 
planting of the vine and the olive in the colonies and the 
establishment of industry was forbidden. In a letter writ¬ 
ten in 1815 the great Bolivar said: “We were never vice¬ 
roys or governors except by very extraordinary reasons: 
archbishops and bishops, seldom; ambassadors, never; mili¬ 
tary men, only as subordinates; nobles, without privilege, 
lastly, we were neither magistrates nor financiers, and 
hardly merchants. All this we had to accept in direct op¬ 
position to our institutions.” 

In these ways Spain discriminated in a very material 
way between native Spaniards and colonials. In addition, 
a pernicious class distinction was drawn between them. 
American-born children of native Spaniards were known 
as Creoles 1 and were generally looked down upon socially; 
they were regarded as having been degraded by contact 
from birth with an inferior civilization. It is not surpris¬ 
ing therefore that the Spanish American Creoles, excluded 
from all political, economic and social preferments, should 

1A Creole in its broad sense is a child, born in America, whose par¬ 
ents are natives of any country in Europe, or who are of pure European 
descent. 



64 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


have referred contemptuously to the Peninsula Spaniards 
as Gachupines. 

Over the Creoles, the half-breeds and the Indians alike, 
Gachupin Viceroys, Captains-General, and provincial 
Governors imposed an unrestrained tyranny. For, however 
enlightened and humane he might be, their sovereign was 
far away—much further than would be the case today with 
modern means of transportation and communication. In 
fact the King too often acted upon the theory expressed 
in the later eighteenth century by a Spanish American 
Viceroy, namely that subjects were “bom to obey and be 
silent.” Ancient universities and excellent schools existed 
in South America in 1800. But these were designed es¬ 
pecially for the sons of the Gachupines and the higher 
Creoles. Education had become neither democratized nor 
popular. Instead it was almost altogether in the hands of 
a narrow and conservative Clergy. On one occasion a 
King of Spain refused permission to the Venezuelans to 
establish a university in Maricaibo because, in his opinion, 
“it was unsuitable to promote learning in South America, 
where the inhabitants appeared destined by nature to work 
in the mines.” 

The same fundamental errors which impoverished and 
enfeebled Spain were leading inevitably by the close of the 
eighteenth century to the loss of her vast American col¬ 
onies: First the belief that possession of gold, instead of 
industry and commerce was the foundation of prosperity; 
second, the belief that ignorance and blind obedience, not 
education and helpful co-operation, was the lot of the 
masses and the keystone of Empire. The same short¬ 
sighted policy which had banished the Jews and the Moors 
from the Peninsula had decimated the Indians in the 
New World. It forbade non-Spanish immigration, only 
gave encouragement to the mining of precious metals and 
stones, looked with disdain upon the sections endowed by 


SIM6N BOLIVAR 


65 


nature for agricultural development and, under penalty 
of confiscation and death to the transgressor of monopolis¬ 
tic laws, discouraged commerce. It maintained a prohibi¬ 
tive system of agrarian and industrial taxation. In the 
face of these tyrannical restrictions, the Creoles, “reduced 
to the social condition of serfs and, at the utmost, of mere 
consumers, were helpless to exert any real influence in gov¬ 
ernmental affairs.” In short, however much Spain merits 
the admiration and gratitude of the world for the marvel¬ 
ous part she played in the spread of western civilization, 
she made many mistakes in her colonial policies, all of 
which was paid for through the loss of her over-seas em¬ 
pire. 

Despite centuries of oppression not all of Spain’s 
American subjects were ready to strike for freedom in 
1800. The Indians of South America had to a great extent 
become dumb to oppression and blinded to hope and during 
the course of the wars of independence they followed no 
organized or definite course of action. Of the Spanish popu¬ 
lation scarce a third favored independence as a means of 
correcting political, economic and social abuses. Another 
third remained unalterably loyal to Spain, some in the hope 
that already tardy reforms would in time be granted. 
Still another third remained indiff erent to the outcome of 
the struggle. The winning of the independence of Span¬ 
ish South America, therefore, was the achievement of an 
ambitious and resentful minority. This fact does not de¬ 
tract from the lustre of the heroes’ names; indeed it but 
emphasizes the foresight and patriotism of the leaders in 
the face of such apparently overwhelming odds. 

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, under the 
leadership of a few courageous men, chief of whom was 
Simon Bolivar, the great move was started which drove the 
Spaniards from continental America. This succession of 
revolutions was part of a world movement in behalf of 


66 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


humanity. For example, the greatest movement of the 
restless century and a half since 1776 has been the trium¬ 
phant struggle of virile democracy and republican institu¬ 
tions over entrenched, privileged, and monarchical autoc¬ 
racy. Viewed in this way, and studied with proportionate 
emphasis, it is clearly seen that the revolt of the English 
colonies in 1776; the French and Polish revolutions of a 
few years later; the Spanish American revolutions of 
1810-1824; the various revolutionary movements for de¬ 
mocracy and the right of individual freedom of speech and 
liberty in the nineteenth century; and the making of the 
“world safe for democracy” in the last great war are all 
but closely related phases of the same general movement 
that was initiated at Philadelphia on July 4,1776. 

If this great world movement is to be considered from 
all angles, as it should be, if it is to be properly under¬ 
stood and properly appraised, one should not be content 
to tell only of Valley Forge and Yorktown, of the glory 
days of the revolutionary tribunal and the guillotine in 
France, of freedom shrieking when Kosciusko fell in Po¬ 
land, and ignore the incomparable patriotism and self de¬ 
nial of San Martin in Argentina and on the west coast of 
South America, of the military and political ambitions and 
triumphs of Bolivar, “El Libertador” of Northern South 
America, and of the martyrdom of Hidalgo, Morelos, and 
a score of others on the altar of their beloved Mexico. 
These men believed in and sacrificed for the same principles 
as did Washington, Lafayette, and Kosciusko. They took 
up the work where the latter had left it off and carried 
it into far distant parts of the world. And, far from be¬ 
littling the work of the latter, let it be remembered that the 
labors of San Martin and Bolivar, of Hidalgo, Morelos, 
and Guerrero freed from autocracy’s strangling grasp 
and made safe republican institutions, and virile, though 
not full grown democracy, in an area many times the 


SIMON BOLIVAR 


67 


size of the total area freed by their better known and im¬ 
mortalized American and European predecessors in the 
same work. 

Not as many people have been affected by the achieve¬ 
ments of the Latin American revolutionary patriots as 
were by those of Washington and Lafayette. However, 
one should consider that at the entrance of the United 
States into the last war, when the clarion notes of Presi¬ 
dent Wilson’s appeal to humanity and civilized nations was 
“heard round the world,” two-thirds of the total area of 
Latin America and three-fifths of its population—a total 
of 50,000,000 souls—either followed the lead of the Unit¬ 
ed States in declaring war against autocratic Germany or 
else severed diplomatic relations with that country, while 
not one of the remaining Latin American countries ex¬ 
pressed friendship for Germany, but instead maintained 
the strictest neutrality. For these reasons the contribu¬ 
tions of Latin America from 1810 to 1824 and again from 
1914 to 1918, in the long struggle to drive autocracy from 
the face of the earth, merit our consideration and our study. 
It is time to give them their proper setting and emphasis in 
the development of humanity in general. 

On the roll of illustrious patriots of Latin America in 
the period from 1810 to 1824 and even thereafter no name 
stands higher than that of Simon Bolivar. He was born 
in Venezuela in 1783 of noble descent. At the age of 
fifteen he was left an orphan. At sixteen this young South 
American was sent to Europe by relatives to be educated. 
He spent several years in Madrid, where he played with 
the young prince, who later became King Ferdinand VII, 
and where he met and fell in love with his future wife, 
Maria Teresa Toro. In 1801 Bolivar visited Paris. There 
he observed with admiration the great social reorganization 
which Napoleon Bonaparte, as First Consul, was effecting. 
At the age of nineteen Bolivar was married in Madrid and 


68 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


set out with his young wife for Venezuela to manage his 
vast ancestral estates. Shortly after arriving in Vene¬ 
zuela, Bolivar’s wife died. 

The death of Bolivar’s wife changed the whole current 
of his life. He loved her devotedly and at her death vowed 
never to marry again. Years afterwards, he said: “The 
death of my wife placed me at an early age in the road of 
politics; it caused me to follow the chariot of Mars instead 
of the plow of Ceres.” 

At twenty-one, shortly after the death of his wife, Boli¬ 
var made a second trip to Europe. He traveled exten¬ 
sively, visiting Paris, Vienna, Milan, and Rome. In Paris, 
he noted with regret the elevation of Napoleon from First 
Consul to Emperor. At Milan he witnessed with disdain 
the coronation of Napoleon as King of Italy. At Rome, 
so intense had become his hatred of monarchy, he swore 
on Aventine Hill to liberate his native country. Every¬ 
where in his travels his mind was enlarged by diligent 
study and keen observation, and he was able to contrast 
the progressive vigor of Latin Europe with the miserable 
bondage that weighed down the intellect of his native land. 

Bolivar returned to Venezuela in 1806, having visited 
en route the United States. There he witnessed the actual 
workings of a free democratic nation and there he became 
all the more firmly resolved to free South America from 
her tyrannical rule. Had he been willing to be untrue to 
the spirit of patriotism and liberty that surged up in his 
soul, he might have been the richest, the most powerful of 
the Creole caste; he might have passed the remainder of 
his life in opulence; or he might have won high favors of 
the king and the Spanish courtiers. He preferred the 
prospect of exile, penury, and death to servile allegiance 
to a tyrannical government. 

When Bolivar arrived in Venezuela in the latter part 
of 1806 he found the time inopportune for attempting to 


3IM6N BOLIVAR 


69 


liberate his people. In the early part of the same year a 
famous countryman of his, Don Francisco Miranda— 
truly known as the Apostle of Independence in South 
America—had in vain attempted to arouse the Venezue¬ 
lans to fight for the ideal of liberty. Miranda had fought 
with Washington for the liberty of the United States and 
with Doumouriez for the liberty of France. But Mir¬ 
anda, in Venezuela, had been defeated by the loyal Span¬ 
iards and had been forced into European exile. Never was 
the Spanish hold on Venezuela stronger than when Bolivar 
returned there in 1806. From his estate, however, he 
viewed with compassion the unhappy condition of his coun¬ 
try while his mind seethed with ideals of liberty and in¬ 
dependence. 

European complications soon brought about the moment 
for which Bolivar and his small group of confidants had 
anxiously waited. In 1808 Napoleon Bonaparte—proud 
military master of continental Europe—deposed and im¬ 
prisoned the lawful king of Spain, Ferdinand VII, and 
enforced the Spanish people to accept his brother Joseph 
as their king. A national uprising followed. Spain se¬ 
cured the assistance of England and Portugal in their 
efFort to overthrow the power of France. Local patriotic 
juntas were organized throughout Spain and a Central 
Junta was finally established at Cadiz. News of these 
swiftly moving events created a profound impression in 
Spanish America where there was a spontaneous outburst 
of revulsion against the shameless interference of the 
“little Corsican” in the affairs of Spain. Everywhere 
Spanish Americans refused to recognize Joseph Bona¬ 
parte as their rightful king. Thus, it was not because 
the rule of Spain was tyrannical, but because the rule was 
foreign to Spain, that the first general impulse was given 
to the movement for the independence of Spanish Ameri¬ 
ca—the very thing about which Bolivar had been dream¬ 
ing for years. 


70 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


Bolivar and his associates were not tardy in taking ad¬ 
vantage of these events to turn popular sentiment in their 
favor, and they demanded the establishment of a self-gov¬ 
erning junta in Caracas. The Spanish authorities there, 
however, denied the request, ordered the leading propo¬ 
nents of the plan thrown into prison, and finally acknowl¬ 
edged the authority of the Central Junta in Spain. 
Though checked temporarily, other European events soon 
played into the hands of the conspirators. In the early 
part of 1810 the Central Junta created a Regency of Five 
to rule Spain in the name of Ferdinand VII. Thereby, 
with no other authority than any self-constituted body can 
arrogate unto itself, the Central Junta restored, in the 
form of a Regency, the Bourbon monarchy in Spain, 
which had been suspended by the enforced abdication of 
Ferdinand VII. This event furnished the second general 
revolutionary impulse in South America, for, to acknowl¬ 
edge the sovereignty of Ferdinand was one thing; to refuse 
to acknowledge the authority of Joseph was another—per¬ 
haps a corollary of the first; but to acknowledge the author¬ 
ity of a self-constituted Regency, ruling in the name of the 
deposed Ferdinand, was unthinkable to many Latin 
Americans who, under other conditions, would never have 
joined the movement for independence. 

On April 19, 1810, after the arrival of agents from 
Spain with orders that the Spanish Regency be recognized 
in Caracas, the hour for Bolivar and the Venezuelan pa¬ 
triots had arrived. The decision made at this moment by 
these brave spirits led by Simon Bolivar determined the 
destiny of South America. Without violence or blood¬ 
shed, the highest official, the Captain-General, was deposed 
and the right of the colonists to govern themselves in 
the name of their prisoner king was decreed. A junta was 
formed which opened the commerce of Venezuela to the 
world, removed the capitation and other taxes, proclaimed 


SIM6N BOLIVAR 


71 


equality, threw off, in effect, the Spanish yoke, and evi¬ 
denced the birth of a new republic. In recognition of his 
services Bolivar at the age of twenty-seven, received a 
colonel’s commission from the revolutionary junta, and 
was sent to London with two compatriots to seek the recog¬ 
nition and the assistance of the British Government. 

The first step in the movement for Independence in 
South America was the repudiation of Joseph Bonaparte; 
the second was the repudiation of a self-constituted Re¬ 
gency, which arrogantly assumed royal authority over the 
Spanish Americans. Both of these steps had been taken 
in Venezuela with the advice and under leadership of 
Bolivar. The third step, namely, the definite repudiation 
of Ferdinand VII and Spain alike was also to be taken, 
under the same inspiring leadership. 

By the time Bolivar arrived in London, England was 
co-operating with the Spanish Regency in a campaign 
against the French in the Iberian Peninsula; hence Boli¬ 
var’s mission was fruitless. In London, however, Bolivar 
met the exiled Apostle of Independence, Miranda, and 
together they returned to Venezuela in the latter part of 
1810. Through the influence of Bolivar, who proved 
clearly by this action his freedom from personal ambition, 
Miranda was at once appointed Lieutenant-General by 
the Caracas Junta, While the first South American Con¬ 
gress, which convened at Caracas on March 2, 1811, was 
deliberating about the expediency of declaring the inde¬ 
pendence of Venezuela, Bolivar in a fervid address ex¬ 
claimed: “What do we care if Spain submits to Napoleon 
Bonaparte, if we have decided to be free? Let us without 
fear lay the cornerstone of South American freedom. To 
hesitate is to die.” 

On July 5, 1811, Venezuela issued a declaration of in¬ 
dependence—the first of any Spanish American colony. 
The following year war began in earnest with the advance 


72 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


of the royalists under General Monteverde. Bolivar, who 
had fought several engagements under Miranda, the gen¬ 
eralissimo of the patriot forces, was entrusted with the 
command of important posts. Monteverde had met with 
only slight success when a disastrous earthquake occurred 
in Caracas and the surrounding region on March 26, 1812. 
The royalists, supported by a conservative and reactionary 
clergy, cited this as proof of Divine opposition to the pa¬ 
triot movement. As a result many people quickly with¬ 
drew their support from Miranda and Bolivar. In the 
face of these reverses, Miranda proved to be a poor mili¬ 
tary leader and because of his many blunders, notably 
the failure to give sufficient support to Bolivar at Puerto 
Cabello, the Spaniards, with royalist support, recovered 
their hold over Venezuela and the republic was short¬ 
lived. Miranda capitulated to Monteverde on July 25, 
1812 and a few days later Monteverde entered Caracas, 
where he treacherously repudiated the terms of the capitu¬ 
lation. 

Miranda was bitterly denounced as a traitor who had 
surrendered to an inferior force. When he was preparing 
to leave the country, the patriot leaders including Bolivar 
captured and imprisoned him at La Guaira on July 31, 
1812. When the triumphant and unscrupulous Monte¬ 
verde entered the city he found his most valued prize— 
Miranda—in a dungeon. Miranda was misjudged. He 
was not a traitor, but he paid for his human frailties by 
languishing until his death in 1816 in a Spanish prison— 
a martyr to his life long devotion to liberty. 

Unswerved in his determination to liberate Venezuela, 
Bolivar finally went to Cartagena, in the adjacent vice¬ 
royalty of New Granada, where he offered his services to 
the independent republican government of that city. There 
he published a declaration in which he outlined the causes 
for the failure of the patriot movement at Caracas, and 


SIM6N BOLfVAB 


73 


explained that Venezuela should be liberated in order to 
insure the liberty of the continent by preventing it from 
becoming a convenient base of operations for the Span¬ 
iards. Bolivar’s services were accepted and in a brilliant 
campaign, begun with only two hundred men, he drove 
the royalists from the lower Magdalena Valley. Shortly 
afterward Bolivar received instructions from the Congress 
of New Granada to lead an expedition against the royal¬ 
ists at Cucuta and Pamplona, cities on the Venezuelan 
frontier. Bolivar began this campaign with four hundred 
men and on February 28 he captured Cucuta, after which 
the royalists evacuated Pamplona. Bolivar’s hopes after 
this victory are indicated by a few words from an address 
to his soldiers: “From you, brave soldiers of Cartagena 
and the Union, the whole of America expects her liberty 
and salvation.” 

Finally on May 15, 1813 Bolivar with only eight hun¬ 
dred men began his campaign against the royalist forces 
of Venezuela, then totalling over twenty thousand men. 
Nearly three months later, on August 6, 1813, with an 
ever increasing army of volunteers, after having traveled 
750 miles and vanquished in fifty combats a far superior 
enemy, he entered Caracas in triumph. The people, with 
characteristic Spanish enthusiasm and generosity, gave 
him an ovation as the deliverer of his country; the City 
Council gave him the title of “Liberator” and bestowed 
on him the power of dictator in civil as well as in military 
aff airs. 

But Bolivar had not yet succeeded in overthrowing the 
might of Spain. The crudest of men, Boves, collected an 
army of Venezuelan llaneros (cowboys) under the name of 
the “Infernal Legion”, and, notwithstanding several 
serious defeats, finally defeated Bolivar and other patriot 
generals in open battle at La Puerta on June 15, 1814. 
Bolivar left Venezuela to report to the Congress of New 


74 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


Granada. “There is no power in this world/’ he pro¬ 
claimed when leaving, “capable of arresting me in the 
work in which I am engaged. . . . God reserves vic¬ 

tory to constancy.” Then followed the darkest period in 
South America’s struggle for liberty. 

The wars in Europe had ended with the battle of 
Waterloo and Ferdinand VII sat securely, for the time, 
upon the throne of Spain. This ruler “by divine right” 
firmly resolved never to grant freedom to South America 
and prepared to start a war of extermination “which would 
leave no patriot alive in the continent.” A great army of 
released veterans gathered from the battle-fields of Eu¬ 
rope was sent to Venezuela and placed under the command 
of General Morillo, a bold and merciless officer. From 
Venezuela as a base he moved into and soon subdued New 
Granada where many patriots of eminence were executed 
without the semblance of a trial. Caracas, once the home of 
freedom, now became the center of Spanish rule. Not 
only Venezuela and New Granada, but Peru and Chile, 
were subdued and Spanish authority completely restored 
in those provinces. Only in the Viceroyalty of Buenos 
Aires did the torch of freedom continue to flicker feebly, 
and Ferdinand VII laid plans to extinguish that. The 
rest of South America was blighted by one of the cruelest 
tyrannies in all history. The Spaniards conducted their 
campaign in such a barbarous manner that an official re¬ 
port says, regarding Venezuela: “These provinces have 
ceased to exist. Towns inhabited by thousands now num¬ 
ber one hundred; others have been wiped out. I have 
traversed roads covered with dying and dead men and 
many skeletons lined the road. Heaps of ashes mark the 
sites of villages. The trace of cultivated areas is oblit¬ 
erated ...” 

Even in this extremity, Bolivar had the courage and 
perseverance to hope and work toward his goal with un- 


SIM6N BOLIVAR 


75 


tiring zeal. It was while at Jamaica during this period 
that he wrote his prophetic letter about the destinies of the 
Latin-American countries, stating that “so long as our 
fellow citizens do not acquire the talents and the political 
virtues which distinguish our brothers of the north, who 
have a system of government altogether popular in char¬ 
acter, I am very much afraid these institutions might lead 
to our ruin instead of aiding us. ... I desire more 
than anybody else to see the formation in America of the 
greatest nation in the world, not so much as to its exten¬ 
sion and wealth as to its glory and freedom.” 

As soon as possible Bolivar banded his fellow refugees 
together in the new Republic of Haiti and in March, 1816 
landed on the Island of Margarita, just off the coast of 
Venezuela. Here for the third time the patriot govern¬ 
ment was reorganized with Bolivar as Supreme Chief. 
Despite the fact that his enemies outnumbered his forces 
in the proportion of one hundred to one, Bolivar landed 
on the Venezuelan coast in July. There, impelled by the 
necessity of individual liberty in the building of a nation 
of freedom and independence, Bolivar proclaimed the 
abolition of slavery. This was nearly fifty years before 
the Emancipation Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln. 
“Honor to whom honor is due.” The world has been tardy 
in recognizing and appreciating the first liberator of 
human slavery in the South American continent—Simon 
Bolivar. 

For the third time Bolivar was forced to flee from 
Venezuela, but in January, 1817 he returned again, this 
time to wage ceaseless and uncompromising conflict with 
the hated oppressors until the last of them had been hum¬ 
bled in the dust. Such an example of indomitable per¬ 
severance has scarcely, if ever, been excelled. One of 
Bolivar’s greatest victories, from the standpoint of its 
strategic location, was the capture of Angostura in the 


76 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


Orinoco Valley on July 17, 1817. It marked the turning 
point in his contest for freedom as distinctly as the capture 
of Trenton had signalled the turn of the tide for George 
Washington. 

In 1818, a large number of soldiers of fortune—Irish, 
English, and continental European veterans, left without 
a congenial occupation at the close of the Napoleonic wars 
—joined Bolivar’s army and strengthened it, a much 
needed reinforcement. A national assembly was convened 
at Angostura on February 15, 1819. By it Bolivar was 
confirmed as military commander-in-chief; he was also 
elected President of the Republic and given almost su¬ 
preme power. At this Congress he made one of his most 
famous addresses, a recognized classic in South American 
literature. He said, in part: 

“A republican form of government has been, is and 
ought to be that of Venezuela; its basis ought to be the 
sovereignty of the people, the division of power, civil 
liberty, the prohibition of slavery and the abolition of 
monarchy and privilege. ... I have been obliged to 
beg you to adopt centralization and the union of all the 
states in a republic, one and indivisible.” 

This address bears a striking resemblance to some off 
the utterances of Abraham Lincoln, both in sentiment and 
simplicity of expression. 

Bolivar also disclaimed before congress all dictatorial 
power, warning that “nothing is more dangerous to popu¬ 
lar government than the continuity of executive power in 
the same individual.” He added: “Popular education 
must be the first care ... of Congress. Morals and 
enlightenment are the two poles of a republic; morals and 
enlightenment are our first needs.” 1 


1 This is the sarnie idea as that expressed in different words a few 
decades later by President Mirabeau B. Lamar of Texas. Lamar's 
statement has since been adopted as a motto of the University of Texas. 



SIM6N BOLIVAR 


77 


He proposed the creation of a court that would have 
jurisdiction over the education of children and the mainte¬ 
nance of patriotism. The domain of that court, which 
would constitute a fourth power, would be the hearts of 
men, the public spirit, good habits, and republican mo¬ 
rality. Nobler thoughts have seldom been uttered by a 
statesman or patriot. 

In 1819, Bolivar crossed the ice-capped Andean range 
through passes, some of them 13,000 feet high, which were 
believed to be impassable for an army. In all history this 
daring and hazardous feat has never been excelled and has 
only been equaled by the passage of the Alps by Han¬ 
nibal and Napoleon and the passage of the Southern 
Andes by San Martin. Bolivar descended with his emaci¬ 
ated and footsore soldiers into New Granada, and at 
Boyaca, on August 7, 1819, decisively defeated the roy¬ 
alist force. This victory assured the ultimate liberation 
of all of South America. From Bogota the last viceroy 
fled on August 9 as Bolivar entered the city in triumph. 
Before the end of the year New Granada and Venezuela, 
under the influence of the Liberator, had been united into 
the Republic of Colombia, of which Bolivar became the 
first President. 

The royalists were still strong on the coast of Venezuela, 
but at that time Spain was prevented from sending them 
aid by a revolution at home. The final victory of Bolivar 
in the Northern part of South America was won at Cara- 
bobo in June, 1821. Once more Bolivar entered his beloved 
Caracas in triumph. 

During 1821 and 1822 Bolivar with the most able and 
virtuous of his generals, Antonio Jose de Sucre, liberated 
Ecuador in the battles of Pichincha and Bombona. Peru, 

It is: “Cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy. . . . 

It is the only dictator that freemen acknowledge and the only security 
that freemen desire.” 


78 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


“the real center of Spanish power on the continent,” still 
remained largely under the control of the Spaniards. Ac¬ 
cordingly, from Ecuador, Bolivar and Sucre moved 
against the historic Tory stronghold of South America. 
At Jurnn, “where not the sound of a firearm was heard, 
but the clash of sabres,” and at Ayacucho, one of the 
world’s real decisive battles, brilliant victories were won 
by the combined patriots of Colombia and Peru. At 
Ayacucho, General Sucre received for Bolivar the sword 
of the last Spanish Viceroy in the Americas; thus was 
assured the independence of South America and the ful¬ 
fillment of Bolivar’s dream. “The battle of Ayacucho 
practically put an end to the War of Independence of 
America, which began with the battle of Lexington, April 
19, 1775.” 

After Ayacucho Sucre prosecuted the campaign against 
the royalists in Upper Peru while Bolivar remained to 
exercise the dictatorial powers which the grateful Peru¬ 
vians insisted on bestowing upon him until constitutional 
government could be established there. When Sucre had 
completed his military conquests Bolivar started to join 
him. En route he proclaimed the Republic of Upper 
Peru, a name which, in his honor, the national assembly 
later changed to Bolivia. As Perpetual Protector of this 
new republic, Bolivar drafted a constitution, embodying 
his favorite political ideas, which was adopted in 1826. 

At that time Bolivar was President of Colombia, Dicta¬ 
tor of Peru, Perpetual Protector of Bolivia, his au¬ 
thority extending over a territory two-thirds as large as 
all Europe. But it was an authority exerted only so far 
as military necessities made it imperative. He main¬ 
tained civil authority and resigned all dictatorships as soon 
as the military objective was attached and constitutional 
authority could be established. His own historic mission 
he himself probably best described after the liberation of 


SIMON BOLIVAR 


79 


Bolivia. He said: “I have fulfilled all my obligations, 
for I have done my duty as a soldier, the only profession 
which I have followed since the first day of the Republic 
[April 19,1810]. . . . I was not bom to be a magis¬ 
trate. . . . Even if a soldier saves his country, he 

rarely proves a good executive.” 

Scarcely was the liberation of South America attained 
than factional strife and political intrigue began to un¬ 
dermine the work of Bolivar. He devoted his entire 
thought to the consolidation of the American republics, to 
the continental equilibrium between North and South, 
to the stability of the Republic of Colombia, to the Cen¬ 
tral American Federation. “Its canals,” he wrote, “shall 
shorten the distances of the world, tighten the conven¬ 
tional bonds between Europe, America, and Asia, and 
bring to that happy region the tribute of the capital of 
the earth, as Byzantium was, in Constantine’s mind, the 
capital of the eastern hemisphere.” 

While Bolivar planned these great deeds petty ambi¬ 
tions were designing his ruin. His enemies plotted to 
break Colombia and rule over its pieces. They assassi¬ 
nated Sucre, whose dominating personality and loyalty 
were in their way, and conspired against the life of 
Bolivar. Finally, after having divided the Republic of 
Colombia into its three elements, Venezuela, New Grana¬ 
da, and Ecuador, the Venezuelan Congress passed a de¬ 
gree of expulsion against its most illustrious son. “Every¬ 
where the artificial handiwork of the Liberator lay in mins. 
‘America is ungovernable. Those who have served in the 
revolution have ploughed the sea,’ was his despairing cry.” 

Bolivar was too great and sincere to dispute the exercise 
of a power he had so often resigned or placed in other 
hands. But the death of Sucre and the base ingratitude 
of the Venezuelans cmshed his great, generous soul, and 
he went forth to die of a broken heart. Shortly before his 


80 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


death he called his secretary to the bedside and dictated 
his last address to his countrymen: ‘Tor my enemies I have 
only forgiveness. If my death shall contribute to the ces¬ 
sation of factions and the consolidation of the Union, I 
can go tranquilly to my grave.” These words breathe 
the spirit of a martyr. He died at Santa Marta on De¬ 
cember seventeenth, 1830, at the age of forty-seven years. 
In the brief years of his life he had laid his mark forever 
upon the independence and liberties of South America. 
In the midst of his ceaseless labors as liberator, he was en¬ 
gaged in a purposeful plan to unite all Spanish America 
into one vast federation; his dream was to consolidate into 
one mighty confederacy all the territory from Mexico to 
the Straits of Magellan. His vision for a united Latin 
America was similar to that which the United States has 
wrought out in North America. 

He spent nine-tenths of a large inheritance in the serv¬ 
ice of his country. Although he had at one time unlimited 
control over the revenues of three countries, he never ac¬ 
cepted a shilling of public money. Few men ever had 
greater opportunities of enriching themselves; still he died 
in comparative poverty. His name is everywhere in South 
America today. Coins, streets, monuments, squares, cities, 
provinces and a republic, all bearing the name of “El 
Libertador,” are a constant reminder of the homage of his 
countrymen. His dauntless courage and unconquerable 
hope command the admiration of the Anglo-Saxon as well 
as the Latin. His purpose never faltered under the blows 
of defeat and apparent failure. With a persistence 
scarcely, if ever equaled, he came back with renewed zeal 
after each repulse. On his single arm rested for many 
years the destiny of half a continent. In a conflict where 
the enemy gave no quarter to revolutionists, and in a gov¬ 
ernment where the fires of lawless insurrection ever smoul¬ 
dered among the people, he has left a record singularly 


SIM6N BOLfVAR 


81 


free from cruelty. With the growth of education, com¬ 
merce and industry in South America, the world is com¬ 
ing to know the greatness of Simon Bolivar’s struggle 
for human liberty. 

South Americans may justly compare Bolivar with the 
early heroes of Rome. He was a patriot rather than a 
Caesar; he fought to liberate, not to enslave. His genius 
increased with difficulties; his powers were matured in 
trials; he showered with bountiful hand the blessings of 
life and liberty upon millions of people. He had an 
achieving career of patriotism with which Caesar had noth¬ 
ing to compare; Napoleon had no record as an emanci¬ 
pator worthy of such praise. The combined spirits of 
Washington and Lincoln united in the altruism of Simon 
Bolivar. 











/ 







QUEEN ELIZABETH 















ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND. 


THE CREATIVE PATRIOT 

1533-1603 

I T is remarkable that the turning point in the history 
of England—a nation conspicuous for its manhood 
and virility—should have been under the guidance 
and personal force of a woman. The reigns of other 
sovereigns are recorded and remembered in varying de¬ 
grees and colors. But Queen Elizabeth’s rule became the 
Elizabethan Age—and the story of it, and the greatness 
of it do not fade, but are enhanced with the passing years. 
Three centuries later another woman, Queen Victoria, gave 
her name to the only other English “Age.” It was however, 
Elizabeth “the great queen” who started England on the 
up-grade to her ultimate power—who laid the corner¬ 
stone of the British Empire. With her peculiarly femi¬ 
nine policy of aggressive energy at home, and conservative 
immobility abroad, she brought into being the ideas and 
ideals—those slow moving powerful forces of self-govern¬ 
ment and culture distinctive ever after of the English 
people. 

She developed a nation distinguished for patriotism and 
vigorous progress. She restored religious peace to a peo¬ 
ple torn to the heart by a half century of religious perse¬ 
cution. She was the channel through which the Renais¬ 
sance, born in Italy two hundred years before, flowed into 
England. She encouraged in her subjects the creative 
urge which produced an English literature. This resulted 
in the developed genius of Sidney, Lyly, Florio, Ben 
Johnson, Spencer, Beaumont and Fletcher, Marlowe, Sir 
(83) 


84 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


Francis Bacon—the master mind, and William Shakes¬ 
peare—the brightest star in the firmament of literature. 

Her influence also stirred reflective minds with a lively 
curiosity which transformed research from necromancy to 
a science. She touched adventurous hearts with a new 
and vigorous impulse toward exploration and discovery. 
Many daring navigators put to sea. The most noted of 
these was Sir Francis Drake—who was called “The 
Dragon”, by the Spaniards. He was the first English¬ 
man to circumnavigate the world. (1577-1580). His 
friend, Sir Walter Raleigh, founded the first English 
colony in America, and named it Virginia in honor of 
“The Virgin Queen.” 

Queen Elizabeth was the power behind an era unrivalled 
for its strides in civilization, in industrial and commercial 
activities, and in culture . There has rarely been at one time, 
in one place, such a group of distinguished men as those 
whom her age produced. She fertilized the growth of these 
men to their manifold accomplishments. Her greatness 
was reflected in the greatness she inspired. 

In the early part of the Sixteenth century England was 
in an almost unbelievable stage of simplicity and primi¬ 
tiveness. The people were notoriously lawless and reck¬ 
less of human life. A momentous transition from local 
self-government to one in which the crown bore the main 
weight of responsibility was inevitable. Elizabeth came 
to the throne in the heart of this transition, took the bur¬ 
den of it on her young shoulders, and soon had all of 
England in the palm of her hand. 

At her succession to the throne, in 1558, there were about 
3,000,000 inhabitants in England, scarcely more than the 
population of the United States at the time of our Revo¬ 
lution. Less than one-third of these Englishmen could 
read and so few could write that writing was considered 
an art and a great accomplishment. 


ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND 


85 


The number of inns, ale-houses, taverns, and cook-shops 
has never been so numerous in any country, in proportion 
to the population. Even as late as 1574 the average was 
one to every twenty inhabitants. A few of the taverns 
were genuine descendants of the beloved old hospices, but 
the others were mere “‘tippling houses”, hot-beds of reli¬ 
gious, political and criminal discussions. Licensed by the 
Government, the hosts had a degree of social importance, 
of which they took lawless advantage. They escaped pun¬ 
ishment by reporting both real and fictitious plots against 
the crown and almost any ne’er-do-well, with a friend at 
court, could procure a license and the meager furnishings. 

The only real necessities were a brass and copper kettle, 
pots and pans, latten candlesticks, iron tongs and a pot 
hook, a grid-iron, dripping pan, steamer, glasses, trenchers, 
stone galley, pots, tables, stools and a chest. Wooden 
platters and spoons were used and occasionally a table 
knife. The Elizabethans ate with their fingers, and the 
first fork was brought to England from Italy as late as 
1611. Although bedsteads were rare and the people more 
often slept on straw mattresses with a fur rug over them, 
the linens were of beauty and quality. 

There had been an abrupt change in the social life of the 
nation. Balanced agriculture had been largely supplanted 
by the production of wool. The splendid days of 
health, when fruits, fish and dairy products fed the peo¬ 
ple—when bread was cheap and butcher’s meat dear—were 
gone. Pasture grazing succeeded tillage; coarse meat was 
cheap, grain was dear; poultry became a luxury and vege¬ 
tables practically unknown. The people ate inferior beef 
and mutton and indifferently baked meal. There were 
no railroads for quick transportation and no refrigeration 
for conserving. The food was rarely fresh or palatable. 
They strengthened their crude ale to make the food edible 
and this “festive bowl” circulated freely. 


86 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


In contrast, the aristocrats imported delicacies from 
France and Italy and a hundred varieties of wine were in 
general use at the court. They alone could indulge in 
luxury, which they obtained at exhorbitant prices. 

The English people of all classes were in need of a social 
Renaissance. The personal lives of the forefigures of the 
age were unnatural and irregular. Marriages were usu¬ 
ally arranged on monetary and political bases. The Queen 
had a fanatical antipathy for matrimony, which extended 
to her court. Many a secret marriage ended with a honey¬ 
moon in prison. Early Elizabethan statesmen often pre¬ 
served their dignity at the expense of their moral welf are. 

The lower classes were especially turbulent and rest¬ 
less. The lawyers at court gained enormous fees and 
their futures were subsequently guaranteed, but the pro¬ 
fession of authentic Court Law was so unrenumerative that 
it was almost non-existent. Every educated man learned 
the rudiments of law for his own protection and the more 
ignorant ones suff ered grudgingly. The industrial traders 
had all the capital, which they invested in mortgages at 
the expense of the ignorant class of owners and tenants. 
Competition for land raised the value of commodities and 
the result was economy in labor, ending in much begging 
and little charity. Border warfare with Wales on the 
South, with Scotland on the North, and constant strug¬ 
gling with Ireland, kept the pot of protective war boiling. 
The most a ruler could hope for was to protect one-half 
of her people from the other half. 

Religious feeling ran high. Henry VIII’s sudden im¬ 
perious changes and interchanges of state religion from 
Catholicism to Protestantism left an intermingling senti¬ 
ment of religious chaos. His son and Successor, Edward 
VI, under the guardianship and influence of his Protestant 
uncle, the Duke of Somerset, fostered an intermediary reli¬ 
gion which leaned toward Protestantism. His “Prayer 


ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND 


87 


Book” was the bedrock of the Church of England. His 
reign was a confusion of religious changes beyond the per¬ 
ception of a sickly boy, and happily, ended during his mi¬ 
nority. His half-sister Mary, who succeeded him as Mary 
I, was an ardent Catholic, and devoted her short reign to a 
restoration of Catholicism. 

Elizabeth was the daughter of King Henry VIII and 
Anne Boleyn, his second wife. She was born in 1588. 
Three years later her mother’s marriage to the King was 
declared invalid and the luckless and beautiful Anne 
Boleyn was executed. This left Elizabeth a very doubtful 
right of succession to the crown. She was banished from 
the sight of her father and committed to the care of Lady 
Bryan, a relative of her mother’s. A resident in Hertford¬ 
shire was assigned to her and her half-sister, Mary, who 
was then twenty-two years old. 

In her house on a high hill overlooking the Stort River, 
Elizabeth was well brought up. Her teachers were care¬ 
fully chosen—efficient, scholarly men. The little girl was 
fascinated by learning. She showed such remarkable 
precocity in penmanship, in languages, and in needle work, 
that before she was eleven she translated from the French, 
a poem of 128 pages (written by Margaret of Navarre) 
and copied it in a handwriting as beautiful as engraving. 
She embroidered the cover, hound it herself and sent it to 
her stepmother, Queen Catherine Parr. This book was 
printed four years later and was Elizabeth’s first publica¬ 
tion. She was a fragile girl but what she lacked in physical 
strength took force in mental alertness and in a dominant 
will. 

Her early life was lonely and oppressive, interspersed 
with frequent periods of despondency. She inherited many 
splendid qualities—prudence, wise caution, and intel¬ 
lectuality, from her grandfather, Henry VII; personal 
charm, brilliance, and imperious poise from her father, 


88 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


which were to prove so potent in her popularity as Queen; 
but she did not escape the relentless temper of Anne 
Boleyn. This temper so increased with age that the adula¬ 
tion showered upon the “Good Queen Bess” was often 
an intermingling of fear with love. 

Henry VIII died in 1547 and acknowledged the rights 
of succession to Mary and Elizabeth in the event of no 
direct heirs from his son, Edward. 

Elizabeth, only fourteen, was put under the care of 
Catherine Parr, the Queen Dowager, the sixth wife of 
Henry VIII. In spite of Henry’s liking for the lettered 
world, his unnatural matrimonial proceedings had lowered 
the morale of court life. Gossip was rampant. Although 
the ideal courtier is usually a product of mere fiction, there 
was among the men no pretense at idealism. They were 
self-seeking, hypocritical and frivolous. All sense of honor 
or protection of family had degenerated into an idea that 
life was a scramble and the cleverest gained the day. 

Intimacy with courtiers of this type taught the young 
Princess Elizabeth personal responsibility and rigorous 
self-restraint. From them she learned the frailty of human 
trustworthiness. She confided in no one wholly. She 
never trusted implicitly. When several ambitious Lords 
of the Court connived to marry her, they were baffled by 
her mature cleverness. She was disillusioned, but she 
forced her disillusionment to strengthen her character, just 
as she used all her failures—as well as her successes—to 
reinforce her will. 

In 1553 Mary I, in a hurrican of plots and threats 
of revolution, succeeded King Edward VI. There has 
never been a more tottering throne than that of England 
when Mary took the crown. She was doomed to a short 
and unhappy sovereignty, hounded by rebellions, threat¬ 
ened by repeated attacks from the French, and terrorized 
by plots to dethrone or murder her. In a panic of fear and 


ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND 


89 


suspicion against Elizabeth, she imprisoned her in the 
Tower of London. 

The Princess Royal of England, the next in succession 
to the'Crown, passed through the Traitor’s Gate of the 
Tower, from which so few returned. It is small wonder 
that Elizabeth, a mere girl, should have reacted to these 
insults and acute dangers. The sword of Damocles was 
hanging, very near, above her head. And as it swayed, her 
young eyes became quick in watching, her heart learned 
sympathy for the suffering, but her mind hardened and 
became a sharp two edged sword, ready to cut its way 
through circumstance. Let those beware who came too 
near the keen edge of it. 

In 1555 Queen Mary married Prince Philip of Spain, 
the son of that extraordinary Emperor, Charles V, ruler of 
the Great Roman Empire, who was at that time the most 
influential man in Europe. It was generally known among 
the smoldering Protestants that he was responsible for 
sending the Princess Elizabeth to the Tower. Soon after 
Philip’s marriage to Mary, Charles placed him on the 
Spanish throne as Philip II. This increased his unpopu¬ 
larity in England and the people would not crown him as 
their King. They realized that his underlying motive was 
to annex England to the Hapsburg Empire. 

He flooded the conservative English Court with objec¬ 
tionable Spaniards and officiously thrust his influence into 
every question of State. He incited Mary to motivate the 
Inquisition—(the anti-Reformation) which is foremost 
among the torture pages of history. It branded Mary, 
a Queen engulfed in religious fanaticism, with the indelible 
name of “Bloody Mary”. She was of the proud Tudor 
dynasty, a brave woman whose will was broken by a weak 
body, pernicious melancholia, a brutal husband, cruel ad¬ 
visers. 

She little knew that Philip’s mania—to re-establish Ca- 


90 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


tholicism throughout Europe (where the Reformation was 
gaining rapid foothold)—was eclipsed by an ambition to 
extend his personal authority as far as possible over the 
world. He was, however, relentless in his zeal for ortho¬ 
doxy, rabid in his persecution of the Protestants, and he 
hoped, through marrying Elizabeth to one of his puppets, 
to make her a stepping stone to his own heights. To that 
end he influenced Mary to release her from prison, but the 
young Princess refused to be the dupe of his mad scheme. 
Only when he had fanned the flames between France and 
England into open war, did he desert England entirely. 
He had fomented a war which forfeited Calais, England’s 
last footprint on the Continent. This was the stroke 
which cut the Island of England and Scotland irrevocably 
from Europe. The Queen moaned that should they open 
her heart after her death, the word “Calais” would be writ¬ 
ten upon it. 

In the same year, 1558, Mary died, childless, broken¬ 
hearted, forsaken by her husband, crushed by her failures. 
She had cut off one indirect line of succession by the execu¬ 
tion of her cousin Lady Jane Grey and her boy husband, 
who had been the nucleus of various plots. Because of no 
other alternative, she acknowledged Elizabeth as her suc¬ 
cessor. 

During the last part of Mary’s reign, the young Prin¬ 
cess had been kept at Hatfield, in nominal freedom. Her 
personal courage had been remarkable, her will was un¬ 
bent; but her health was shattered and she never had the 
robust physique which would seem essential to her endur¬ 
ance and splendid accomplishments. 

She had undergone persecutions which would have shat¬ 
tered a more fragile spirit. Few of the degradations of 
human life had been spared her. Even her freedom was 
hounded by enemy conspiracies crowding upon her on all 
sides—to tempt and to bewilder her. During the five years 


ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND 


91 


of her sister’s sovereignty, she had suffered the depths of 
physical and mental agony. Yet in her darkest moments 
she was preparing to be Queen of England . Each breath 
of her life was breathed for this end alone. She delved 
into study which would enhance her value to England— 
into history, biography, philosophy, languages. She spoke 
French, Italian and Latin fluently, and had read, in the 
Greek, Demosthenes’s “On the Crown” with that famous 
scholar, Robert Adams, who was her friend and teacher. 
He said that her’s was the most brilliant mind he had ever 
encountered. 

She improved her talents and developed them into a 
genius for governing. She had once been deprived for an 
entire year of paper, pens and every book except her 
testament (written in her own hand when she was eleven 
years old). In that year of solitary imprisonment, she 
learned this testament by heart. She never forgot nor lost 
an occasion to quote the Bible—especially in Parliament 
where it “stood her in good stead.” 

She had an innate sense of finance and was an economist. 
She never lost an opportunity to improve. She prayed 
to be “Queen”. She longed to devote her disciplined, 
trained mind to ruling England. She gathered about her 
men of learning and absorbed from them. With a be¬ 
wildering feminine instinct she chose a few friends from 
the vigilant enemies about her, and, in spite of an unprece¬ 
dented handicap, she gradually built up the bulwarks of 
popularity. 

Elizabeth was at Hatfield, sitting under an old oak, 
which is now standing, when word came that she was Queen. 
Her dream, her prayer, which had held her faith high, 
during so many morbid years, had at last come true. She 
fell on her knees and said: “It is the doing of the Lord, 
and it is marvelous in our eyes.” 

In Westminster Abbey—the old cruciform church— 


92 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


where every English sovereign has been crowned since 
William the Conqueror; Elizabeth was crowned on Jan¬ 
uary 15, 1559. England rejoiced. At last they had a sov¬ 
ereign who was “mere English”—mere English in blood, 
in character, in policy. Rarely has a ruler ascended a 
throne so brilliantly equipped for reigning. 

Elizabeth placed above all else her duty as Queen. It 
was not only the high standard of her life, it was her 
Life. She knew living in the very essence of its meaning. 
She was not quite twenty-five years old, yet she had that 
unnatural maturity which results from too great knowl¬ 
edge and experience. She had learned wisdom through 
suffering, was brave, prudent, intelligent and self-reliant. 

She was not beautiful but she was attractive, slender, of 
medium height, with olive complexion, wide-set, dark eyes 
and beautiful hands. She was poised, proud, inherently 
vain, but outwardly controlled, agreeable and charming. 
She had that rare knack of showing a human side to her 
people, showing it with no loss of dignity or Tudor im¬ 
periousness. They knew of her beautiful clothes, of her 
skill in dancing, in music, in riding, in shooting; of her 
strict economy, her passionate devotion to them, her fear¬ 
lessness to mingle with them unguarded, her lack of prej¬ 
udice, her brilliant education, and they also knew how 
uncomplainingly she had suffered. Their hearts turned to 
her. 

She ascended the throne as the Hope of England, eager 
and determined to restore religious peace and national 
security. Yet to any girl, even one so fully equipped as 
Elizabeth, it was an ominous inheritance. “She was poor; 
the nobility was degenerate; the army and navy decayed; 
the people undisciplined and rebellious to the laws; Ire¬ 
land muttering discontent; France and Scotland threat¬ 
ening.” 

Elizabeth showed at once a keen perception in selecting 


ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND 


93 


men of brains and talent to surround her. Her chief min¬ 
ister William Cecil (later made Lord Burghley) and 
Robert Dudley (later the Earl of Leicester) were men 
of bitterly opposing policies, yet both of them remained 
loyal and constructive advisers, almost to the end of her 
reign. Burghley’s exaggerated caution and conservatism 
balanced Leicester’s buoyant aggressiveness. Elizabeth 
found a medium ground, by learning the best from both 
and adding to it her own precocious judgment, just as 
did Washington with Alexander Hamilton and Thomas 
Jefferson. 

From the contradictory information which has been 
left concerning the men of the Elizabethan age, so 
little is of exact authority that we may paint them in the 
varied colors we choose. Burghley’s stolidity and integrity 
are unquestioned, and because he had fewer faults he was 
more conspicuously great. Leicester was a bolder type—a 
man of brilliance, diplomacy and financial daring. Burgh¬ 
ley was of the old school and although he lived several 
years longer than Leicester, he was never converted to 
reconstructive ideas. Leicester kept pace with every step 
toward the “New England”. While Burghley struggled 
for the preservation of English traditions, Leicester 
pressed toward a wider world of letters, commerce and mili¬ 
tary activity. Burghley gave Elizabeth the basal cue that 
the throne of England depended upon the masses of the 
people; Leicester taught her in lighter vein the way to 
their hearts. The young Queen adopted a reassuring, un¬ 
prejudiced policy which was her stronghold in the storms 
to come. 

She made no radical statements about religion, but grad¬ 
ually the regime was changed. The old service—the bish¬ 
ops were gone. Connection with Rome was subtly broken. 
Royal supremacy was restored. She seemed never to 
interfere with the independence of the church but she 


94 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


quietly made it once more English. During Henry VIII’s 
vacillating religion, Edward’s New Learning and Prayer 
Book, and Mary’s radical restoration of Catholicism, Eng¬ 
land had undergone so many religious changes and per¬ 
secutions that the confused people were in a frame of mind 
for religious peace at any price. 

The first wave of the Renaissance was arousing their 
imaginations and intellects. A longing for mental ad¬ 
vancement, an appreciation of artistic beauty, and an in¬ 
terest in affairs of the outer world were gaining momen¬ 
tum. They had learned the futility of struggling for 
spiritual belief alone. Life interested them more than 
after life. It is probable that the people in general re¬ 
joiced at a seemingly final religious settlement. They 
were no longer deeply pious and were impatient at the 
learning and relearning of creeds. They only desired 
some simple form of service and reverence which was of 
minimum bother to them. 

But while the change was of passing moment to the 
majority of English people, it had a vital effect on Eng¬ 
land’s international position. The north of Europe was 
gradually, under various leaders, breaking away from 
“Latin Christendom.” This swelling undercurrent was 
the Reformation. Martin Luther had roused Germany 
and before he died in 1546, a large proportion of the 
Germans had turned to the new faith. John Knox, a pupil 
of Jean Calvin was preaching and converting in Scotland. 
France was being divided between the Catholics and Prot¬ 
estant Huguenots. 

It is largely due to Elizabeth’s tact and moderation that 
the Reformation in England was actualized with less 
wreckage and bloodshed than in any of the nations swept 
by it. Even the Queen’s personal antipathy to Puritanism 
(which was growing extensively in England) did not drive 
her to an irrational attitude. She thought Lutheranism, 


ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND 


95 


an established and comparatively respectable religion,— 
the line of least resistance—and the surest middle ground 
for unity of the State. She considered the Church of Eng¬ 
land an experimental contrivance to enable men of oppo¬ 
site creeds to live together without shedding each other’s 
blood. 

Throughout Europe Catholicism and Protestantism 
formed the political dividing line. England, by an irresist¬ 
ible force of circumstances became the champion of Prot¬ 
estantism. By choosing the Church of England, Elizabeth 
opened the irrevocable breach between her and her cousin, 
the beautiful, ill-starred, Mary Stuart. For half a cen¬ 
tury Elizabeth and Mary, by a strange fate, never to see 
one another, represented the great European struggle be¬ 
tween Catholics and Protestants. 

Mary Stuart was then Queen of Scotland. She was an 
ardent Catholic. Six months before Elizabeth’s succession 
she had been married to the Dauphin of France. A year 
later, at the coronation of her husband, Francis II, she be¬ 
came Queen of France and under the influence of her 
sinister mother-in-law, Catherine de Medici, and her uncles, 
The Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine, Mary’s 
vanity and ambition had been roused to the danger point. 
Not content with the crowns of Scotland and France she 
assumed also the arms of England, intimating that none 
of Henry VIII’s direct descendants were legitimately rec¬ 
ognized by the Pope. This asserted her own right to rule 
England as the legitimate heiress of Mary Tudor, his 
sister. 

Elizabeth knew the possibilities in her cousin—the lovely 
girl who had the 4 ‘heart of a woman and the courage of a 
man.” She recognized the necessity of taking a stand and 
took finally the least dangerous one—to help the Protes¬ 
tant Scots to drive out the Catholic French. The result 
was not a glorious victory, but it eventualized in a treaty 


96 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


providing for the withdrawal of the French troops from 
Scotland. This was signed at Edinborough on July 6, 
1560. The regent of Scotland ruling for Mary, had re¬ 
cently died. A council of twelve nobles was appointed, 
partly by the English Parliament and partly by Mary 
Stuart. It was a decisive step towards the triumph of the 
Reformation in Scotland, and it relieved Elizabeth of the 
immediate possibility of the Scotch border raids developing 
into dangerous activities. 

The Queen took advantage of this comparatively peace¬ 
ful interlude to revive the military spirit of her people, yet 
she recommended and practiced strict frugality and thrift. 
She was weaving the fabric of a new England, and, being 
a woman, she was careful never to drop a stitch. 

Soon the death of the French king sent Mary Stuart to 
the Scottish throne, but a Sovereign of one faith and a 
people of another could not long be expected to endure one 
another. Scotland had become formally Protestant (Cal- 
vanistic) in 1560. Mary refused to ratify the treaty of 
Edinborough, on the grounds that it invalidated her right 
of succession to the English crown. 

Feeling ran high and Elizabeth refused to acknowledge 
the rights of succession to Mary, except on the condition 
of Mary’s marriage to a Protestant Prince, a French or an 
English nobleman. Her first suggestion, the Earl of Lei¬ 
cester, so closely attached to her own court, was gaily re¬ 
fused. Her second—a distant relative Lord Darnley— 
was incidentally Mary’s own secret choice. Their whirl¬ 
wind marriage took place while the deliberate English 
queen was changing her mind about the political value of 
it. Thus in the long blind battle between these two re¬ 
markable women, the Scot Queen struck first. 

Elizabeth had mistrusted Mary before but now she ac¬ 
tually feared her. Their swords were crossed. The un¬ 
staple pendulum of popularity swung violently between 


ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND 


97 


them. A wave of preference was swaying toward Mary 
when suddenly the quarrel between her and her husband, 
resulting in the murder of her secretary, Rizzio, brought 
back a waning interest to Elizabeth. But the weight re¬ 
verted to Mary when her son James was born. Scat¬ 
tered preparations were being made in her behalf for an 
uprising against her English cousin. 

Elizabeth was in the most despondent period of her 
reign, a reign so cluttered with depression that it would 
have driven a weaker woman to madness. But assurance 
and coolness never deserted her. She diverted herself by 
a holiday progress through England, which brought her 
close to the people’s hearts. She spent five days in Oxford 
University, where speeches were delivered praising her 
virtues and learning. She answered in Latin, winning 
them with the eloquence and charm with which she was so 
gifted. A few years later (1571) she was instrumental 
in founding Oxford, Jesus College (endowed by Hugh 
Price)" and in 1584 she persuaded Sir Walter Mildmay, 
her privy councillor, and chancellor of the exchequer, to 
establish and endow Emmanuel College at Cambridge. 
She had visited Cambridge in 1564, and during all the 
varying tides of her reign, she continued an active interest 
in these two colleges, whose histories go back to the tenth 
and eleventh centuries. They are today the preeminent 
universities of the English speaking world. 

On the Queen’s return, Parliament opened up the old, 
gnawing, ill-fated, unending subject of her marriage and 
the succession. At the beginning of her reign she had en¬ 
couraged the suit of her brother-in-law, Philip of Spain—• 
and bluntly refused him in the end. King Eric of Sweden, 
the Earl of Arran, and the Archduke Charles, she rejected 
lightly—just as she dangled many noble Englishmen— 
and finally the Duke D’Alencon, the brother of the French 
King, who, although half her age, really fell in love 
with her. 


98 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


It is scarcely to be believed that Elizabeth ever deeply 
considered matrimony. She had no desire to share her 
power. She wished to be supreme—to rule the church—to 
rule Parliament—to rule her every subject—alone. Her 
famous rebuke to Leicester, “I will have here but one 
Mistress and no Master” shows her intense feeling on this 
subject. Her policy was a baffling one—hut no flaw can 
be found in her patriotic earnestness. 

She had an almost incredible foresight, which was al¬ 
ternately a weak form of strength and a strong form of 
weakness. 

She would renounce something of apparent importance, 
and throw her ministers into panic. When the smoke 
cleared, the Queen had in her grasp something of surpris¬ 
ing and substantial import. Parliament was ostensibly 
chosen by the people, but was virtually appointed by Eliz¬ 
abeth, who knew the value of two parties and two opinions. 
She kept the conflicting elements, nominally Catholics and 
Protestants, equally divided. If a man made a mis-step, 
he was quietly replaced by another of his own kind . It was 
the Queen alone who made a majority. 

She knew her reputation was in her own keeping. She 
was the directing mind of England and she reserved to 
herself the responsibility of every final decision and action. 
Throughout her rule she remained a monarch, insisting on 
absolute dominion because she judged it essential to the 
welfare of her country. Her one and only passion was 
England. She sacrificed herself, her friends, and all per¬ 
sonal ambition to that end. 

While Parliament was sulking about the succession, at¬ 
tention was turned again to Scotland by the murder of 
Darnley, followed three months later by Mary’s marriage 
to Bothwell. Darnley’s untrustworthiness as a man and 

Cambridge even claims an authentic charter from King Arthur, 
dated 531 A. D. 


ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND 


99 


as a husband did not justify such a crime. It was the 
signal for Mary Stuart’s downfall. She was imprisoned 
by the Scotch Lords in Lockleven Castle. 

Elizabeth was a sentimentalist about the Bights of 
Princes. She sent the following imperious demands to the 
Scot Nobles: “to release the Queen; to inquire into the 
Darnley-Bothwell affair; to bring Prince James to Eng¬ 
land for her protection.” The Nobles refused point blank. 

Elizabeth continued in a non-committal way to defend 
her imprisoned cousin. On May 2, 1568, Mary escaped 
and gathered about her a band of adherents, who were no 
sooner gathered than dispersed. She fled to England with 
the desperate hope of persuading Elizabeth to intervene 
in her behalf, but Elizabeth refused to receive her at court 
until she proved her innocence of being implicated in 
Darnley’s murder. 

The farseeing English woman designed to reduce Scot¬ 
land to dependence on England and at the same time re¬ 
store the Queen to a nominal rule. So, in spite of Mary’s 
feeble remonstrances, Elizabeth assumed the rule of judge. 
Elizabeth denied any personal enmity but foresaw that the 
recognition of Mary’s right of succession would be “to 
spread a winding sheet before her eyes.” 

She deliberately determined to inculpate the lords and 
also Mary, only to such a degree as to induce them to turn 
to her for mediation. But the plans she laid for a political 
conference developed into a sort of confused trial, ending 
with no sufficient evidence against either Mary or the 
lords. The future of England was plunged into still 
further uncertainty, when Mary signed an abdication in 
favor of her son James. Now Elizabeth’s last hope of 
keeping the position of arbiter of Scottish affairs was 
shattered. But she was an artist at procrastinating. She 
had always preferred to be non-committal, rather than take 
a definite stand and the disposal of the captive Mary was 


100 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


added to her long list of delays. She had learned the 
policy of waiting when a mere girl. It had been a large 
factor in making her queen. She would always remem¬ 
ber it. 

Her ministers were thinking of the present, clamoring 
for more money and a direct heir. But Elizabeth looked 
to the future and could find no husband who did not in¬ 
volve eventually greater and more pressing difficulties. 
She feared that Philip of Spain would champion Mary’s 
cause. He was the Catholic stronghold. He had won a 
signal victory in the Netherlands; he was building a fleet; 
he had little reason to befriend Elizabeth; he knew that 
neither his conquests in the Netherlands nor in the New 
World would be safe until England’s hands were tied. 

At this time Elizabeth had few ships and could not 
finance a real navy. The growth of English piracy had de¬ 
veloped to such an amazing extent that it was beyond gov¬ 
ernment control. It was passed over as a temporary and 
inevitable phase but it was notoriously disreputable. The 
Spanish were the chief suff erers and Philip’s anger blazed 
against the English ships and forbade them from Spanish 
and Flemish harbors. Explanations and apologies from 
England were of no avail. War with Spain was imminent. 

The nobles of England were in a chaos of plots, quar¬ 
rels, interquarrels, jealousies, hatreds, discontents, conspir¬ 
acies. A body of men rose for Mary’s rescue, but the 
country did not meet their enthusiasm and the rebel army 
dispersed. Another daring attempt was routed by a band 
of Elizabeth’s border horsemen under her cousin, Lord 
Hunsdon. This was one of the few battles ever fought on 
English soil—the battle of Gelt—yet the courage and 
skill of Hunsdon, whose men were weary and outnumbered 
two to one, were so dramatic that Elizabeth told the story 
over and over during the long years when her armies were 
fighting in foreign lands. 


ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND 


101 


But her pride in this victory did not appease Elizabeth. 
She was outraged at the rebellion and determined to stab 
the idea in its infancy. The Queen lost her head. Peasants 
were hanged. Noblemen were tried and executed and their 
estates confiscated. At no time could she have better af¬ 
forded clemency, because the complete failure of the rising 
established her more firmly in her power. It dispelled any 
rumor that the English Queen was ruling on sufferance 
and it steadied her throne at home and abroad. 

Europe now realized that Elizabeth was greatly loved 
and loyally protected. Only foreign invasion could up¬ 
root the growing solidity of England, yet no sooner had 
the rallies to Mary passed into the background than the 
smouldering embers of religious discontent—which indeed 
had been the underlying spark of the northern rebellion— 
burst into visible flames. The English Queen was excom¬ 
municated by the Pope, and along with her all who should 
obey her commands. This was the beginning of a series 
of plots against Elizabeth, overlapping each other in rapid 
succession during twenty years. 

The Queen’s religious views were so tolerant, so broad, 
that very little outward stir was made, except for one 
great blaze. This was the master plot of Alva and Philip, 
for the invasion of England by the Spaniards and the 
assassination of the Queen. The Duke of Norfolk headed 
this conspiracy but no Englishman would volunteer to be 
the murderer of a Tudor, so an Italian volunteered. Only 
the ceaseless and almost superhuman watchfulness of Lord 
Burghley uncovered the plot in the nick of time. He found 
a list of implicated names, which included some of 
the greatest in England. Among those sent to the scaf¬ 
fold was the Duke of Norfolk, a man of “too great ambi¬ 
tion and too little bravery.” 

The indirect result of this fiasco was a treaty between 
England and France, signed in April, 1572. They both 


102 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


feared Spain and hoped by this treaty to inter-protect one 
another. Nothing could save France—divided against 
herself—from the succeeding years of savagery and con¬ 
flict. The massacre of St. Bartholomew’s D)ay filled Eng¬ 
land with horror and fear, lest it be the signal for a world 
murder of all Protestants. But religious fervor soon 
waned into a calm after the storm. Elizabeth proceeded in 
her policy of ambiguity, neither dissolving nor renewing 
the treaty. 

A revolt in the Netherlands kept Philip from new activi¬ 
ties. Both France and Spain were in need of England’s 
friendship. Her power was on the upgrade. Two Eng¬ 
lish victories in Scotland eliminated danger from the source 
of the Scot Queen. Elizabeth reminisced on all she had 
gained by waiting. Her confidence was restored. She 
set about to foster culture and commerce in England and 
to develop her naval power. 

The first London Exchange had been built by Sir 
Thomas Gresham in 1571. Heretofore all business had 
been transacted upon the narrow open streets or in the 
nave of St. Paul’s Cathedral, completed at the end of 
the 15th century. London was now a city of about 300,000 
inhabitants. Like all English towns, it was surrounded 
with walls and trenches. The houses were built of wood, 
gabled, red roofed and rarely over two stories high. The 
floors were covered with rushes and long wooden benches 
were used for chairs. In the better houses fire places were 
being substituted for the open hearth, but conveniences 
were meager and comfort practically unknown. A few of 
the main streets were paved but none of them lighted. 
They were narrow, winding streets crowded with pedes¬ 
trians,—an occasional courier on horseback—and more 
rarely a lady of rank in a litter. Not for several years was 
the first carriage imported into England. 

There was only one bridge over the Thames, the famous 


ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND 


103 


London bridge, broad and lined with quaint buildings, as 
are the bridges in Florence today. The river was bril¬ 
liant with the gay colors of the Renaissance—crowded 
with business and pleasure boats. The Queen was seen 
in her gondola, wonderfully costumed, followed by gaily 
colored boats. The dress for both men and women was 
elaborate, multi-colored, extreme. Dress absorbed much 
thought and more money. The women were artificial, be- 
hooped, often with auburn-dyed hair to imitate the Queen. 
In spite of her majesty’s frugality nothing was spared to 
enhance her personal beauty. 3,000 dresses were found in 
her wardrobe at the time of her death. 

Court life had become elaborate and luxurious. New 
shadowy tapestries covered the long walls. Dancing was 
merry far into the night. The most brilliant and charming 
men in England hovered about the throne—not the stereo¬ 
typed and spoiled courtiers of the earlier century, but a 
group of vigorous, independent, thinking men whose eyes 
were wide open to the opportune age before them. Poets 
and playwrights appeared as if by magic. The Queen 
herself had literary talent. She said she would have no 
trifler at court who could not write a sonnet and boasted 
that any English gentleman could write a “tolerable 
play.” 

Elizabeth had opened the heart of England to literature. 
Translations were being made from the classics and from 
the Romance languages almost overnight. The transla¬ 
tions, the essays, the poems, the plays, were alike pulsating 
with youth. They were the words which flowed from the 
unself conscious vigorous souls of men who were not driven 
or exhausted but who were free and untrammeled. 

Edmund Spencer was poet laureate. His allegorical 
epic “The Faerie Queen”, will sing of Elizabeth when his¬ 
tories of her are dimmed. Spencer was a friend and pro¬ 
tege of the brilliant young Sir Philip Sidney—“The Flow- 


104 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


er of England”—the hero and martyr of the futile battle 
of Zutfen. Sidney had studied in Italy, the heart of cul¬ 
ture, and was one of the first Anglo-Italian poets. He was 
a nobleman of this new type—the first firm tug on the 
pendulum which Elizabeth was swinging from the de¬ 
cadent conservative nobility of her early reign to the fine 
product of genuine young noblemen who represented the 
English court at the time of her death. 

Although there are said to have been thirty great poets 
and two hundred near great ones during Elizabeth’s rule, 
yet her age was noted especially for its great strides in 
dramatic art. The Elizabethan Age is almost synonymous 
to the thought of Drama. At the beginning of her reign 
the Queen lifted the ban against dramatic performances. 
Traveling players had roamed over England for many 
years, but the first playhouse was not built in London until 
1576. So great was the onrush of fervor for the drama 
that during the next fifty years there appeared eighteen 
theatres in London in 1630, a greater average to the popu¬ 
lation than exists in any city today. 

The companies of actors were under the patronage of 
special nobles, for whom they gave private performances, 
often in honor of the Queen. 

The early colony of theatres was across the Thames, mere 
wooden sheds, half thatched. There were no tickets. A 
penny was the price of admission, and a tip procured a 
“good seat.” The Lords and patrons, however, sat on the 
stage. There was no movable scenery. The walls were 
usually hung with black cloth for a tragedy, with blue for 
a comedy. Although there had been printing in England 
since 1477, the plays were never printed lest they be stolen 
by other companies. 

William Shakespeare, the master dramatist of the Eliza¬ 
bethan Age, and of all ages, was an actor as well as a 
playwright. He played often to the Queen and the story 


ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND 


105 


has come down to us that she commanded him to write 
Henry VI and to finish it in a fortnight. Later, the 
execution of his Patron, Lord Southampton, made Shake¬ 
speare so bitter against the Queen that he was probably the 
only poet in England who refused to write a threnody at 
her death. 

During this development of English drama and poetry 
other branches of progress were not lagging. Science, 
navigation, and exploration were encouraged. An Eng¬ 
lish navy was springing into life, a navy which was to 
make Elizabeth “The Queen of the Northern Seas.” 

In the face of a tumultuous Parliament the Queen signed 
a marriage contract with the Duke of Alenson, changed 
her matrimonial mind, broke the contract, and was forced 
to pay a ludicrous breach of penalty to France of two 
hundred thousand crowns. Indeed, during the prolonged 
and undignified controversies about this marriage, poli¬ 
tics sank to the point of the ridiculous. Elizabeth said they 
were days of “Words, mere words, the current coin of 
France.” 

Lord Burghley twitted the court with being more in¬ 
terested in the heir to the crown than the wearer of it. 
Elizabeth felt the thrust of his tart sword, and continued 
in her triumphant pose as the “Virgin Queen.” Indeed 
her unapproachableness about her marriage, which so en¬ 
raged the ministers, made her popular with the people, 
their fancies still alive to the dwindling English chivalry. 
She excited their imagination. To them she was heroine, 
idol, queen, savior. 

Parliament was diverted from further quibbling about 
the succession by the explosion of a renewed and enlarged 
religious insurrection. Elizabeth realized that undercur¬ 
rents, resulting from her excommunication, were threaten¬ 
ing. She was waiting, hoping to defer the outburst, and 
paying little obvious attention to it. But the Pope was 


106 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


watching keenly for the psychological moment. He knew 
that the turning point of the 16th century was whether the 
States might or might not exist without submitting to Pap¬ 
al jurisdiction. He knew that the fate of Protestantism 
depended upon England. Finally, under his approval, a 
triple attack was formed against Elizabeth; first through 
Ireland, long since England’s most vulnerable spot, still 
ardently Catholic and restless, and called “The Grave of 
English Reputations”; through Scotland, now under the 
young King James; through importing Catholic refugees 
into England to organize an internal rising under the 
Jesuits. These three arrows aimed simultaneously for her 
destruction were crushed, but they left a drop of blood 
upon the Queen, who had made fame with her clemency and 
judicious self-control. 

This drop spread further over her as the trial and execu¬ 
tion of Mary Queen of Scots came to its tragic end. Eliza¬ 
beth could hear with cool equilibrium the reports of single- 
handed attempts on her life, or of the discovery of half 
formulated plots against her. Indeed she was so heedless 
of danger, so unguarded and easy of access, that it is re¬ 
markable that she escaped assassination. But the Guise 
conspiracy assumed such importance that outward precau¬ 
tion was unavoidable. 

Early in 1584 peace broke like lightning into a riotous 
internal and international turmoil. The death of Alenson 
brought France to the verge of religious war. Henry 
III of France was a chronic invalid and Henry of Na¬ 
varre, the next in succession, was a Protestant Huguenot. 
The Prince of Parma was winning scattered victories in 
Europe. Spain had annexed Portugal and become master 
in the New World. She only waited to reconquer the 
Netherlands before directing her hostilities against Eng¬ 
land. 

The nearest impending blow was the Guise Conspiracy. 


ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND 


107 


The life of their Sovereign was at stake and her ministers, 
headed by Leicester, devised a proposal for a voluntary 
band of association for the protection of the person of 
Elizabeth. The enthusiastic signers bound themselves to 
defend the Queen "against all State dignities and earthly 
powers whatsoever” and "should any attempt against her 
be discovered, they would prosecute such persons to death.” 
This was a blatant menace to Mary of Scotland. It forced 
a few arch traitors into the shadow and many to the scaf¬ 
fold. Elizabeth’s value to her nation was gaining momen¬ 
tum. She had the rare satisfaction of appreciative recog¬ 
nition during her life. All Europe envied England her 
sane and constructive ruler. 

They realized that Elizabeth’s success was not automatic. 
It was the result of concentrated effort. She was untiring 
in her work for England. She had standing orders to be 
awakened at any hour of the day or night when valuable 
news arrived. She often called councils at two or three 
o’clock in the morning, which lasted all the next day un¬ 
interrupted. She ate only when hungry and had no hours 
for meals lest they conflict with her state duty. She would 
gather her ministers around her bed and work with them 
when she was too ill to lift her head. She worked night 
and day with a driving force, comparable alone to that of 
Napoleon Bonaparte. When a councillor lagged behind, 
he was immediately exchanged for another, favorite or not. 
She was known as the Queen who "penetrated everything”. 
King Henry III of France called her the most acute 
woman in the world. She was ever at work. She was 
never unprepared. 

In 1566 the Netherlands had broken into a rabid revolt. 
They had endured Philip’s ruthless persecution to the 
breaking point. Under the sign of the Inquisition he had 
made the Netherlands a stage of horror. The climax was 
the assassination of their leader, William of Orange, Wil- 


108 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


liam the Silent, and when the curtain fell they asked the 
protection of Elizabeth, who had assisted them, and offered 
to her their sovereignty. This would have been an irre¬ 
sistible temptation to a red blooded man. But Elizabeth, 
like a painstaking economic housewife, would not swerve 
from her resolution to take small gains and no risks. 

She had a feminine intuition as to her capacity. She 
plunged her energies heart and soul into England’s growth, 
but she had no cosmopolitan ideals. This unbending, per¬ 
sistent quality in her proved to be the foundation of 
England’s insular position. She ridiculed international 
ambitions or enthusiasms. She thought, planned and ruled 
for England alone, and in spite of the radical insistence of 
her ministers, she prevailed in her tortuous policy of avert¬ 
ing war. 

But behind the high walls of Tutbury, where Mary 
Stuart’s prison had been transferred, plots crept in. They 
resulted in the seizure of papers purporting Elizabeth’s 
life. The English Queen perhaps realized that Mary’s 
condemning letter was the result of a plot within a plot, and 
she suspected that Mary’s hand had been forced by some 
of her own self-seeking followers. 

There were many in her court who were not so reckless 
of their fates as their fearless Queen. They knew that 
their lives were tied to the same slender string that held 
hers, and that Mary’s friends held sharp and ready scissors. 
But Elizabeth realized too late that she had fallen into a 
pit, which she had subconsciously dreaded and evaded. She 
could not escape a public trial of the conspirators accord¬ 
ing to the recent act, “for the protection of her person.” 
A commission of judges, the most able and learned peers, 
was appointed to try Mary, Queen of the Scots, for High 
Treason. She was pronounced guilty. 

When Parliament informed Elizabeth of the decision, 
the Queen answered simply and as honestly as she could: 


ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND 


109 


“If my own life depended upon her death, and not the 
welfare of my people, I would willingly pardon her. It 
is for my people’s sake that I do desire to live. As for me, 
I see no such great reason why I should either be fond to 
live or fear to die. I have had good experience in this 
world. If England, by my death, might obtain a more 
flourishing condition and a better sovereign, I would most 
gladly lay down my life. Whatsoever befalls me, death 
shall never find me unprepared.” 

It is very probable that nothing was to be gained for 
Elizabeth by Mary’s death, but it was a vital issue to the 
English people. They dreaded another religious war by 
the succession of a Catholic. In Elizabeth’s reign and hers 
alone, they recognized the hope of peace, prosperity and 
freedom. They feared a back step in their progress which 
was so universally in evidence. Indeed, there was no valid 
ground upon which Mary’s life could be spared. She was 
a sacrifice to politics and Elizabeth could not escape sign¬ 
ing the warrant for her death, complaining bitterly “That 
her safety should depend on the ruin of her kinswoman.” 

These two queens, whose stories will ever be told in all 
its vagaries and contradictions, never spoke together. Their 
personal feelings toward one another were continuously 
biased by men who had their own axes to grind. Only 
the confusion of politics and religion of that very age could 
afford such an unparalleled and unnatural antagonism. 
Although Elizabeth’s direct responsibility for Mary’s exe¬ 
cution has been doubted, and she has never been entirely 
exonerated, the peace which followed in its train calmed 
the contemporary feeling against her. 

Soon rumors of the building of Philip’s famous Armada 
caught the people in a wave of patriotic enthusiasm. Prej - 
udices were harmonized and Englishmen of all classes and 
religions united to protect the Queen and oppose the Span¬ 
iards. This was the supreme effort of Philip’s life and 


110 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


they knew where the blow would fall. When the crisis came 
Elizabeth had an army of 100,000 loyal men. A body 
guard of 30,000 was selected to protect the “person of the 
Queen.” Her navy was diminutive in comparison to the 
glorious Armada but the English sailors shouted that 
“twelve of her Majesty’s ships were a match for all the 
galleys in the Spanish dominions.” 

The glorious victory of Elizabeth’s little navy of sixty 
small ships over the brilliant Spanish Armada of one hun¬ 
dred and thirty great galleons has never grown old for the 
telling. It was the most spectacular battle ever fought on 
the sea. It was one of the great crossroads of civilization. 
It was the decision of the Anglo-Saxon civilization against 
the Latin. It opened the seas to international trade. It 
was the corner-stone to English naval supremacy, and 
proved unerringly that her real defense depended upon her 
naval power. It made England a sea power in the world 
and the realization of this set its indelible stamp on the 
Elizabethan Age. 

Elizabeth turned to her court, a court of a new genera¬ 
tion. The old regime courtier was almost extinct. In 
1588 Leicester died, the only man of the “Old England 
who had kept peace with the New.” He left his step-son, 
the Earl of Essex, to fill his place, a brave soldier, a boy 
of talent, but by no means the man and patriot Leicester 
had been. Essex’s personal advisor and friend was the 
gifted Sir Francis Bacon, whose genius was later to glorify 
England. Walter Raleigh had attracted the Queen’s at¬ 
tention and was then in the flickering spotlight. Bht the 
old councillors were dropping off and with them went 
Elizabeth’s own generation. 

They took away some of her poise and graciousness, and 
trust, but very little of her keenness or her vanity. During 
her sixties we can picture “Her Majesty” dancing in fancy 
dress, playing the harp, enjoying nothing more than the 


ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND 


111 


compliments of these “young men”, unless it was the mem¬ 
ory of older and dearer ones. 

There was a current of adventure in this more virile 
younger generation which she could not always hold out 
against. They clamored for action and would not be de¬ 
nied. In 1589 she sent an aggressive expedition against 
Spain—an unprecedented experiment in her long reign. 
It proved a sufficient failure to convince the Queen that 
her former policy of non-aggressiveness in war had been 
wise and inspired. Even a dramatic victory over Spain 
in 1596 did not change her mind nor the direct course of 
her policies. She insisted that it merely counterbalanced 
the blunder of 1589. But Europe knew it was the death 
knell of Spanish supremacy. This defeat had a more im¬ 
portant effect upon the current of history than that of the 
Armada. It brought the world forever out of the shadow 
of Spanish rule. It culminated in a treaty between France 
and Spain. A few months later the death of Philip II 
closed a dizzy decade of strife between England and 
Spain. 

The Queen had long since had a well organized secret 
service which kept her informed of plots in England and 
politics in Europe. Yet Elizabeth, who yearned for peace, 
was destined never to relax into the calm of personal 
security. 

In 1594 Essex had discovered a plot against her of in¬ 
disputable Spanish origin. He was then in great favor, 
and Elizabeth had given him unprecedented opportunities 
to rise. Yet later the same madcap Essex, a distant cousin 
to the Queen, proved a turn-coat, and, while heading an 
expedition in Ireland, returned against orders and assumed 
a role so redolent of ingratitude and treachery that he paid 
for it on the scaffold. He was built of the stuff that no 
one can oppose and save. Elizabeth called him the “Last 
of the Knights of England.” 


112 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


This was the most disillusioning moment of a reign 
which lasted through forty-five crowded years. Elizabeth 
looked upon her “New England” through tears. “The 
Tudor Rule”, she moaned, “can never be free from blood.” 
She was growing old. The world seemed too young. Life 
had spared her few of its joys and few of its sorrows, yet 
neither of them turned her from the direction of that pa¬ 
triotic achievement which was the passion of her life. 

In less than half a century the “Great Queen” lifted 
England from mediocrity to an exalted position which has 
endured through three centuries. Life during her Age was 
a drama in itself, yet her personal accomplishment is one 
of the greatest dramas in the history of the world. 

She made an Age that men were proud to live in. She 
rescued Holland, humbled Spain, subdued Scotland, estab¬ 
lished England. Her people were growing in wisdom, in 
courage, in culture. They were not living between two 
dreams, one of patriotic past and one of a brilliant future; 
they were living in the reality of present greatness. 

On March 24th, 1603, Queen Elizabeth, the last of the 
Tudors, died; but her Age lived on. Her star was still 
ascending. 



“JOAN OF 


ARC AT RHEIMS,” BY INGRES. 
The Louvre, Paris 
























JOAN OF ARC 


THE MARTYR OF FRANCE. 

1412-1431 

T HE only entirely unselfish person whose name has 
a place in history is perhaps Joan of Arc. No 
other individual accomplished as much in so short 
a time and against such odds as she. Historians dif¬ 
fer as to the real facts concerning her life. Some writers 
have endeavored through psychological analysis to show 
that she was the victim of hysteria and was mentally ab¬ 
normal; while others take the facts of her life and portray 
her as a normal girl possessing divine inspiration. Present 
day writers agree that she was a visionist, but not visionary. 

Joan of Arc was horn January 6, 1412 in the little vil¬ 
lage of Dbmremy in Lorraine. Her early childhood was 
typical of the French peasant of that period. Much of her 
time was spent in herding the sheep on the commons by the 
village. Her parents were peasants. While at her work 
she spent much time dancing and playing with the peasant 
children of the village, and was dearly loved by her play¬ 
mates. She was fair and as hardy as a boy, and unlike her 
playmates was endowed with the gifts of imagination and 
faith. Her education was confined to the teachings of her 
father and mother, and she was early imbued with indig¬ 
nation at the outrages of the English. At the age of 
twelve, she could neither read nor write. 

Joan lived in the most brutal and wicked century since 
the dark ages. France was under the rule of England. 
The French government had been overthrown, and the king 
murdered. England was completely dominating the na- 
(H3) 


114 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


tional life of France. Charles VII was the rightful king, 
but was driven into exile, and could not enter Rheims to 
be annointed with the holy oil of consecration as had been 
the custom of centuries. The French people were divided 
in sentiment, and the troops of Henry V of England were 
assisted by many influential Frenchmen in carrying out 
their plan to crown the English Prince, Henry VI, King 
of France. The English soldiers were sweeping through 
the quiet little hamlets of France, frightening the peaceful 
peasants, and rifling their homes. They were obtaining 
more and more French territory, and subjecting the people 
to English laws, customs, and religion. 

In the quiet of her garden, Joan would sit and think 
over the disordered state of France. She recalled the story 
of how Charles VII had been driven from his coronation 
city, and how the English had usurped the throne, and 
were dividing France among themselves. 

One day while meditating, there appeared to her a bril¬ 
liant, shining light, stronger than the rays of the sun. Out 
of this light she heard a voice speaking to her, saying: 
“Joan, be a good, wise girl; go often to church.” She 
felt herself in the presence of an angel. She spoke of this 
to no one, but obeyed the instructions of the voice. Other 
manifestations appeared to her from time to time, and she 
did as the voice directed. At first she saw not the source 
from which the voice came; but later a winged warrior, 
wearing a crown, told her the story of her country’s woe. 
He said: “Joan, it is you who shall give the king of 
France back his kingdom.” After he had instructed her 
and shown her many signs, she recognized him as Saint 
Michael. She was frightened, and pleaded with the Heav¬ 
enly visitor that jshe was but a simple, ignorant, village 
maiden, unfit to undertake so great a task. She could keep 
her secret no longer. Being afraid to tell her parents lest 
they think her possessed of devils, she opened her heart to 


JOAN OF ARC 


115 


the parish priest in whom she found a sympathetic listener 
and teacher. During the ensuing four years the vision ap¬ 
peared to Joan in various manifestations always instruct¬ 
ing and preparing her for her mission. 

When at last she was convinced that it was the voice of 
God speaking to her, that she must obey His message, she 
told her parents all that had happened. She was harshly 
criticized but no ridicule was capable of shaking her faith. 
She was so persistent that in time her parents became par¬ 
tially reconciled and humored her. She prevailed upon 
her uncle to tell her story to Baudricourt the Captain of 
Yaucouleurs. The captain’s response to the story was a 
burst of laughter and the advice: “Box her ears and send 
her home.” Her father had hoped that when she was re¬ 
fused an escort to the King, she would abandon the foolish 
fancy, but her faith was unabated. 

During the ensuing year she made a number of visits 
to Vaucouleurs, and implored Baudricourt for assistance. 
The story of this French maid of sixteen had traveled 
over the country. Baudricourt was finally prevailed upon 
to furnish her with an escort. Clad in a boy’s traveling 
suit, accompanied by a small guard of soldiers, she set out 
for Chinon to find Charles VII, of whom the Voice said, 
“You shall make him King.” Upon arriving at Chinon 
she went to the castle, and asked for admission but was re¬ 
fused. 

She was questioned by the council. Her answers were 
clear and confident: “I am sent of God to lead an army in 
defense of the Dauphin”. 

“She is a child possessed of devils. Send for the priest,” 
was their verdict. 

Later she was granted an audience; she entered the room 
where the prince, in company with some two hundred 
knights, was incognito. This had purposely been arranged 
in order to trick and test the peasant girl. Without hesi- 


116 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


tancy she went directly to Charles, knelt and said: “Most 
noble Lord Dauphin I come from God to help you in your 
realm.” The company was amazed at her discernment. 
Later she was asked how she was able to distinguish him 
from such a large company, and she replied: “I knew 
him through the Voices.” The Dauphin was elated with 
the message Joan brought. She convinced him that she 
was divinely inspired by recalling an incident of his life 
known only to himself. Her faith and persistence had 
triumphed. 

Her first task was to take Orleans. She had never ridden 
a horse nor seen an army. Clothed in silver white armor in 
token of her purity she mounted her gray steed, and at 
the head of three thousand soldiers set out for Orleans. 
Her soldiers respected her and believed her; no curse of 
blasphemy was heard from their ranks while she led. 

Upon entering Orleans, April 29, 1429, she sent the 
first of a series of three notes, requesting the British to 
withdraw in peace. They replied with jeers and slander. 

The French soldiers at Orleans under the leadership 
of Dunois simply tolerated Joan because she had been sent 
by Prince Charles VII. It was preposterous to think of 
accepting the advice of a peasant girl who knew nothing 
of military tactics. She was endeavoring to accomplish 
a military feat in which they had failed. They would not 
take her into their confidence, but tried to deceive her con¬ 
cerning their plans. Without their advice she faced the 
stupendous task of freeing Orleans from English sup¬ 
pression. 

In the battle of Tourelles, Joan was brave and cour¬ 
ageous. Here, as in all battles, she did not direct her men, 
but led them. She was in the thick of every fray. In 
the fighting at Tourelles, the pivotal skirmish of the battle 
of Orleans, Joan received an arrow through the shoulder. 
After having the wound dressed, she returned to her place 


JOAN OF ARC 


117 


at the head of the army and fought the remainder of the 
day. As dark gathered the French leaders gave up, and 
sounded the call for retreat. Joan prevailed upon them 
to make one more attack, and defeat was turned to victory. 
In eight days this French maid had won one of the “fifteen 
decisive battles of the world.” 

“Head France woke suddenly to life, wherever the great 
news traveled. Whereas before, the spiritless and cowed 
people hung their heads and slunk away if one mentioned 
war to them, now they came clamoring to he enlisted under 
the banner of the Maid of Vaucouleurs, and the roaring 
of war-songs and the thundering of the drums filled all 
the air. 

“There had been grave doubts among the priests as to 
whether the church ought to permit a female soldier to 
dress like a man. But now came a verdict on that head. 
Two of the greatest scholars and theologians of the time, 
one of whom had been Chancellor of the University of 
Paris, rendered it. They decided that since Joan “must 
do the work of a man and a soldier, it is just and legiti¬ 
mate that her apparel should conform to the situation.” 

“It was a great point gained, the Church’s authority to 
dress as a man. The day of the great verdict couriers had 
been despatched to the King with it, and the next morning 
bright and early the clear notes of a bugle came floating 
to us on the crisp air, and we pricked up our ears and began 
to count them. One—two—three; pause; one—two— 
pause; one—two—three, again—and out we skipped and 
went flying; for that formula was used only when the 
King’s herald-at-arms would deliver a proclamation to 
the people. As we hurried along, people came racing out 
of every street and house and alley, men, women, and chil¬ 
dren, all flushed, excited, and throwing lacking articles of 
clothing on as they ran; still those clear notes pealed out, 
and still the rush of people increased till the whole town 


118 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


was abroad and streaming along the principal street. At 
last we reached the square, which was now packed with citi¬ 
zens, and there high on the pedestal of the great cross we 
saw the herald in his brilliant costume, with his servitors 
about him. The next moment he began his delivery in the 
powerful voice proper to his office: 

“Know all men, and take heed therefore, that the most high, the most 
illustrious Charles, by the grace of God King of France, hath been 
pleased to confer upon his well-beloved servant Joan of Arc, called the 
Maid, the title, emoluments, authorities, and dignity of General-in- 
Chief of the Armies of France—and hath appointed to be her lieutenant 
and chief of staff a prince of his royal house, his grace the Duke of 
Alencon!” 

“General of the Armies of France, with a prince of the 
blood for subordinate! Yesterday she was nothing; today 
she was this. Yesterday she was not even a sergeant, not 
even a corporal, not even a private—today, with one step, 
she was at the top. Yesterday she was less than nobody 
to the newest recruit; today her command was law .” 1 

The Voices had told her that there was an ancient sword 
hidden behind the altar of St. Catherine’s at Fierbois. The 
priests knew nothing of it, hut upon search found it. It 
had no sheath and was rusty. They made a sheath of 
crimson velvet and another of cloth-of-gold. It was be¬ 
lieved that this sword had belonged to Charlemagne. Joan 
had designed her standard of white satin with gold fringe. 
The device was an image of God throned in the clouds, 
holding the world in His hand, with two angels kneeling 
at his feet. On the reverse side the crown of France sup¬ 
ported by two angels. 

After the evacuation of Orleans by the English, they 
concentrated all their forces in Paris. The news of the 
victory at Orleans soon spread over France, and many in¬ 
fluential men who had been aiding the British joined the 
French forces in their effort to overthrow British rule. 


1 Mark Twain's Joan of Arc. 


JOAN OF ARC 


119 


The English were driven from Rheims making It possible 
for Charles VII to be consecrated and crowned King of 
France. 

To Joan, Charles VII was not King until he was 
crowned; he was only the Dauphin. That act was to 
finish her mission. The march to Rheims was long and 
tedious. On July 16th the Cathedral towers rose in the 
distance. Joan was overcome with emotion. Clothed in 
white armor, dreamy, beautiful, her sublime mission was 
closing in triumph. 

The next day she stood by and saw the crown of France 
placed on the Dauphin’s head. She was like one trans¬ 
figured, so divine was the glory that shone in her face as 
she sank to her knees at the King’s feet; with quivering 
lips, her words came soft and low: 

“Now, O gentle King, is the pleasure of God accom¬ 
plished according to his command that you should come to 
Rheims and receive the crown that belongeth of right to 
you, and unto none other. My work which was given 
me to do is finished; give me your peace, and let me go 
back to my mother, who is poor and old, and has need of 
me. 

The King raised her up, and there before all that host 
he praised her great deeds in most noble terms; and there 
he confirmed her nobility and titles, making her the equal 
of a count in rank, and also appointed a household and 
officers for her according to her dignity; and then he said: 

“You have saved the crown. Speak, require, demand; 
and whatsoever grace you ask it shall be granted, though 
it make the kingdom poor to meet it.” 

Joan was on her knees again straightway, and said: 

“Then, O gentle King, if out of your compassion you 
will speak the word, I pray you give commandment that 
my village, poor and hard pressed by reason of the war, 
may have its taxes remitted.” 


120 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


The King seemed nonplussed, and stood still a moment, 
as if trying to comprehend and realize the full stature of 
this strange unselfishness. Then he raised his head and 
said: 

“She has won a kingdom and crowned its King; and all 
she asks and all she will take is this poor grace, and even 
this is for others, not for herself. And it is well; her act 
being proportioned to the dignity of one who carries in 
her head and heart riches which outvalue any that any King 
could add, though he gave his all. She shall have her way. 
Now, therefore, it is decreed that from this day forth 
Dbmremy, natal village of Joan of Arc, Deliverer of 
France, called the Maid of Orleans, is freed from all tax¬ 
ation forever.” 

To Charles, the aristocrats bowed low; but about Joan 
the soldiers crowded, kissing her standard, and women and 
little children flocked about, reverently touching the hem 
of her garment. Joan felt that she had accomplished the 
will of God, and begged Charles to send her home; but he 
thought her presence necessary to the army and refused. 
Loyally she took up her task again, but no longer with 
that implicit faith that had worked such marvels. 

After becoming king, Charles became indifferent to the 
progress of the war so long as the gaiety of his court, 
securely established far from the battle field, was undis¬ 
turbed. He would not listen to Joan’s pleadings to give 
her soldiers and provisions to carry on the war, and drive 
the British out of France. She implored him for action, 
and cried with prophetic foresight, “I shall only last a 
year; take the good of me as long as it is possible.” 

At the battle of Compeigne her men deserted, and she 
was taken prisoner by the enemy. The English were elated 
over this turn of affairs; but the French were sorely 
grieved. In cities public prayers and processions were 
organized for her deliverance. Gloom enveloped the peas- 


JOAN OF ARC 


121 


antry of France, while Charles and his court acted with 
indifference. Joan was entitled to ransom, but none was 
offered, and she passed from hand to hand among her cap- 
tors until at last the Inquisition of Paris demanded her to 
be tried for witch craft. 

Once in the hands of the Inquisition, Joan’s life was one 
continuous torture. She was beset by spies, surrounded by 
cross-examiners and guarded by soldiers who did not con¬ 
fine their brutality to slander and ridicule, but actually 
resorted to violence. She was placed like a wild beast in 
an iron cage, and at times was chained upright to its bars 
by ankles, wrist and neck. They used every means of 
torture to wrest from her the confession that she was a 
witch, and that the voices she heard in the garden had 
lied to her. She pitifully but bravely held to her faith. In 
an effort to get her to confess the inquisitors led her out 
into the cemetery and showed her the scaffold and stake 
where she was to be burned. In spite of all this Joan re¬ 
mained true to her vision. 

It was evident that Charles had forgotten this peasant 
girl who had sacrificed so much in making him king of 
France. He permitted her to he tortured by the English 
and finally to be burned at the stake; on the other hand 
Joan never lost faith in her King, and did not condemn 
him for his neglect. 

In May 1431, she was sentenced to he burned at the 
stake. A placard was placed on the stake with these words: 
“Jeanne, self-styled the maid liar, mischief-maker, abuser 
of the people, diviner, superstitious, blasphemer of God, 
presumptuous, false to the faith of Christ, boaster, idola¬ 
ter, cruel, dissolute, an invoker of devils, apostate, schis¬ 
matic and heretic.” There were sixteen terms of reproach, 
and every charge was false. As she was led to the scaffold 
to be burned, she climbed it as bravely as she had climbed 
the scaling ladders at Orleans and Jargeau, when at the 


122 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


head of her victorious army. Until the end she maintained 
that her voices were from God and all that she had done 
was by God’s command; nor did she believe that her voices 
had deceived her. Last, as she was being burned, with a 
clear voice she called, “Jesus”. Her body was burned and 
the ashes strewn on the waters of the Seine; but her spirit 
has lived and today Joan of Arc is glorified as a saint and 
a savior of France. 

“With Joan of Arc love of country was more than a 
sentiment—it was a passion. She was the Genius of Patri¬ 
otism—she was Patriotism embodied, concreted, made- 
flesh, and palpable to the touch and visible to the eye. A 
slender girl in her first young bloom, with the martyr’s 
crown upon her head, and in her hand the sword 
that severed her country’s bonds—shall not this stand for 
Patriotism through all the ages until time shall end?” 


NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 


THE MILITARY AND CIYIC GENIUS. 

1769-1821 

I T has been the purpose of the writer to select the 
dominant figure of each of the nations of the world, 
and to give a resume of the High lights of the history 
of that country. It is regrettable that Napoleon Bona¬ 
parte cannot be consistently used as a world patriot, for 
his name is more intimately inter-woven with the history 
of France than that of any other. 

The dazzling life of military glory of the greatest soldier 
of the modern world should not lead us to accept him as a 
world patriot. Notwithstanding the brilliancy of Na- 
polean’s success and the unique place he holds in European 
history, he cannot properly be held up as a model patriot, 
because of his inordinate selfishness and towering ambi¬ 
tion, which led him to a career of world unrighteous con¬ 
quest. The result was that he built an empire that was 
not enduring, and set up ideals and standards of military 
aggrandizement that were fraught with danger not only 
to France, but to the future of Europe and of the world. 
But French history cannot be grasped without a record of 
Napoleon’s military achievements. 

France, the nation which glories in protecting the op¬ 
pressed, has an especially warm place in American hearts. 
The peculiar comradery which exists between the two 
countries started early in 1780. It was the year in which 
Benjamin Franklin went on his famous mission of appeal 
to Paris, the year in which France sent to the stricken 
(123) 


124 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


American patriots the assistance which so helped them 
to establish and maintain their republic. She sent Roch- 
ambeau—the cool-headed, fearless lieutenant-general, who 
packed his 5,000 eager troops into slow transports and 
brought them to an unknown country to fight for an 
almost unknown people—to fight for liberty and not for 
recompense. Rochambeau came to the cause of Democracy 
—as did also many other illustrious Frenchmen, including 
Lafayette, the young enthusiast, who left a life of luxury 
to serve as a volunteer in the cause of freedom. 

These Frenchmen, so loved and honored by the Amer¬ 
ican people, returned to France only to prepare them¬ 
selves for another and more personal war on autocracy. 
Their names were to go down in the records of the French 
Revolution—some of them on into the annals of the 
French Empire. The American Revolution was a fore¬ 
runner of the French Revolution. Indeed only four years 
elapsed between the drawing up of the respective consti¬ 
tutions. 

It is only natural that we should feel especially close 
to those soldiers who fought side by side with our own 
soldiers and that we should take keen interest in the phe¬ 
nomenal man which those times produced. This man 
took control of the divergent forces of the French Revolu¬ 
tion and directed them toward national unity. He does 
not stand out as a moral hero, nor as the highest type 
of patriot, but his life is such an unusual example of 
achievement, such a prodigious spectacle of genius, that 
he towers above all other French statesmen as a domi¬ 
nant and inspiring leader of men. We may deem Na¬ 
poleon Bonaparte a world hero. 

Napoleon, island-born, inherited neither wealth nor 
position. A self-made man, he spread his name a living 
glory over the world; he elevated himself to a throne more 
magnificent and powerful than that of Caesar; he 


NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 


125 


effectuated revolutions and began operations that future 
ages will continue to utilize and admire; he changed the 
political face of Christendom. His life stands as an un¬ 
paralleled example of worldly ambition. Had his patri¬ 
otism excluded selfism, he would be idolized as the greatest 
patriot as well as the greatest military genius that ever 
lived. The story of his dramatic rise to the blinding light 
of supreme power and abrupt fall to the black depths 
of despair is one which never grows old for the telling. 
It captivates the hearts and minds of today as it did those 
of his own time. 

It seems that in the great crises of nations some big 
man comes to the fore. Such men as Cromwell, Wash¬ 
ington, Lincoln, Bolivar, Napoleon. 

Napoleon was of Italian descent, born in Corsica, Au¬ 
gust fifteenth, 1769, shortly after the island had been 
sold to France by Genoa. His parents, though poor, 
were of some prominence among the gentry of the island. 
Little attention was given to the child’s early training, 
and his companions were sailors on the beach and heards- 
men in the hills. He grew up a diffident yet wilful child 
—unkempt and uncultured, pale, nervous, almost igno¬ 
rant, yet manifesting a certain superiority over his com¬ 
panions. 

When Napoleon was nine years of age, his father, as 
if to compensate for early negligence, secured for his 
child an appointment to a French military school. After 
three months of tutoring at Autun, he passed his ex¬ 
amination and entered the military academy at Brienne, 
a school conducted by the French government for the pur¬ 
pose of training officers for the army. According to the 
annual report he was “distinguished in mathematics; 
tolerably versed in history and geography; weak in Latin, 
general literature and other accomplishments; of regular 
habits, well behaved, studious, and enjoyed excellent 


126 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


health.” He was a poor boy among sons of wealth, and an 
alien with despised foreign manners and accent. Under 
these disadvantages he became morose and discontented, 
shunned the society of his fellows and engrossed himself 
in his studies. 

After five and a half years at Brienne he was one of 
the few to be promoted to the royal military school at 
Paris. In October, 1784, he entered the school, where 
he found the associations still more distasteful than at 
Brienne. Because of his own poverty, the luxurious at¬ 
mosphere of the school aroused his antagonism and caused 
him to repel friendships and to concentrate the full atten¬ 
tion of his rapidly developing mind on study. As a result, 
he finished the course there in one year. 

It is remarkable that the young Napoleon, then only 
sixteen years old, should have been one of the six in his 
class of fifty-eight to choose the artillery branch of the 
service. The artillery, though unappreciated at that time, 
was destined soon to be the greatest weapon of warfare, 
and Napoleon the supreme master of its science. 

Napoleon was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 
artillery, and was stationed at Valence. The following 
seven or eight years were a period of such depressive 
poverty and recurring failures as few men have had the 
fortitude to pass through to success. His family lost 
what little remained of their meagre estate, were exiled 
from Corsica, and became a burden upon his own slender 
resources. For many months he received three francs 
(60 cents) per day from the government, ate but one 
meal daily in the cheapest restaurants, and was so shabby 
that embarassment kept him from friends and society. 
Unlike the usual pleasure-loving officer, he preferred 
penury and privation to debt. He became subject to 
moods of extreme depression and thought himself doomed 
to failure. This turbulent and unhappy state of mind 


NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 


127 


led him into further difficulties, and because of long ab¬ 
sences to Corsica without proper leave, he was dismissed 
from the army. 

It was while he was living in utmost privation and 
exerting all his energy toward regaining his command 
that the days of the second revolution brought a turn 
in the tide of his life. The new authorities restored him 
to the army, and he was sent with his regiment to the 
south of France. While he was there an insurrection oc¬ 
curred in Marseilles. In a paper written on the sub¬ 
ject in the form of an imaginary conversation called “Le 
Souper de Beaucaire,” the young officer discussed the 
situation with such justice and keen insight that the gov¬ 
ernment ordered it published at public expense. It is 
significant that a literary effort rather than a military ac¬ 
complishment first brought the name of Napoleon Bona¬ 
parte into prominence. 

Toulon followed Marseilles in a counter revolution by 
opening its harbor to the English. Napoleon, now a lieu- 
tenant-colonel, joined the French army, which had 
promptly laid siege to the city (1793). He proposed a 
plan of forcing the issue by the capture of a single posi¬ 
tion from which the French guns could dominate the har¬ 
bor. It was chiefly due to this strategy and his energy 
in organizing the artillery and munition departments that 
Toulon was taken. He was only twenty-four years 
old, but as he himself said, “people age quickly on the 
field of battle.” Although the victory at Toulon plays a 
minor role in the history of France, it stands out with 
especially significant importance in the rise of Napoleon. 
It was there that he had the first occasion to show his 
military ability; it was there he first met with the Eng¬ 
lish, who were to play such a tragic role in his life; it 
was there he first came in contact with Junot, Marmont, 
Duroc, B arras—men who were to be so closely and vitally 
associated with his stormy career. 


128 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


Who does not thrill at the account of his first meeting 
with Junot? The young man came to Napoleon to take 
dictation, and while he was writing, a bomb burst near 
by, covering him and the letter with earth. “Good,” said 
he, laughing, “I shall not need any sand to dry the ink.” 
Napoleon, impressed by such cool bravery, from that time 
kept the young sergeant by his side. It was, in fact, 
Junot who described Napoleon after the siege of Toulon 
as “one of those men of whom nature is avaricious and 
that she permits upon the earth only from age to age.” 

Napoleon received honorable mention for his services, 
and favors were granted him and his family. He was 
made a Brigadier-General of Artillery, and served effi¬ 
ciently on the Italian frontier. Through the jealousy of 
the War Minister, Aubry, he was recalled and ordered to 
command an infantry brigade in the West. This unjust 
demotion was avoided by a concocted leave for sickness. 
Finally, through the influence of the powerful conven¬ 
tionalist, Barras, who had become interested in him at Tou¬ 
lon, he was stationed in the Department of Topography 
at the war office in Paris. It was at this time that he 
prepared a plan of campaign in Italy, which was the 
laughing-stock of the commanding generals in the field. 
This plan, with few material changes, he himself after¬ 
ward carried out brilliantly in the famous first Italian 
campaign. 

As the revolutionary reconstruction continued, Napo¬ 
leon became identified with the convention. On October 
fifth, 1795, the Sections rose against the government. 
Barras, the nominal head of the defence, gave Napoleon 
command of the 5,000 troops provided for the protection 
of the Tuileries, where the convention was in session. He 
had but one night in which to formulate plans and arrange 
defence, yet he did his work so thoroughly that it took 
less than one hour of actual fighting to gain a victory 


NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 


129 


over an enemy numbering about 40,000. Although Toulon 
had caused him to be favorably recommended as an officer, 
this was the first evidence of phenomenal genius. It re¬ 
sulted in his appointment to the command of the Army of 
the Interior. He was twenty-six years old. This sur¬ 
prising position had been attained by an unsurpassed 
energy and a phenomenal grasp of detail. He once said: 
“There is nothing I cannot do for myself. If there is no 
one to make powder for the cannon, I can do it.” 

With his prosperity came a new position and interest 
in the social life of Paris. On March ninth, 1796, he 
was married to Josephine Bieauharnais—a widow of great 
personal charm and influence. However, he was imme¬ 
diately appointed commander of the army of Italy, and 
two days after his marriage departed to join the army, 
which for three or four years had been repeatedly de¬ 
feated by Sardinians and Austrians. 

Napoleon’s first problem was to fire the ambition and 
gain the confidence of the soldiers. In taking command 
he addressed them as follows: 

“Soldiers, you are hungry and naked; the Republic 
owes you much, but she has not the means to acquit 
herself of her debts. The patience with which you sup¬ 
port your hardships among these barren rocks is admir¬ 
able, but it cannot procure you glory. I am come to lead 
you into the most fertile plains that the sun beholds; rich 
provinces, opulent towns; all shall be at your disposal. 
Soldiers, with such a prospect before you, can you fail in 
courage and constancy?” This was the first of those 
remarkable speeches which thereafter preceded and fol¬ 
lowed his battles. He showed in them a mastery of the 
art of persuasion and a picturesque command of words 
which never failed to dominate men. 

Napoleon’s 40,000 ragged, hungry and disheartened 
soldiers were opposed by a much larger force. But within 


130 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


fifteen days these troops, jeeringly called the “rag heroes,” 
gained six victories, and within two months secured the 
whole of north Italy for France. Hostilities continued 
with Austria until November fifteenth, when, after three 
days’ fighting, he won at Areola the decisive battle of the 
campaign—a campaign as dazzling to the French as it was 
terrifying to the enemy. 

Napoleon’s personal bravery during these months won 
for him an almost superstitious adoration from his sol¬ 
diers and the title of “Little Corporal.” A most striking 
example of bravery was in the engagement at Lodi. When 
his troops hesitated to make a charge across a wooden 
bridge covered by 30 cannons, he sprang to their head and 
led them into the deadly fire. 

Again at Areola the fight was at a bridge. “The Lit¬ 
tle Corporal’s” life was only saved by the heroism of his 
grenadiers, who forcibly dragged him back from the cen¬ 
tre of the bridge, where he himself had dashed to plant a 
standard. Such utter contempt of death appealed to his 
soldiers hearts. Although a man of small stature, scarcely 
five feet four inches tall, with a sallow and serious face, 
he had a commanding presence which inspired instant re¬ 
spect and obedience. His personal magnetism caused him 
to be loved by all with whom he came in contact. The 
devotion of his soldiers almost amounted to an obsession. 
In later years his old guard formed as bold a background 
for him as did the Tenth Legion for Julius Ceesar. 

In February, 1797, after cleverly ending an armistice 
previously made with the Pope, Napoleon invaded the 
states of the Church. Within three weeks the Pope was 
compelled to procure peace by the surrender of several 
provinces. By April first the Italian campaign was 
closed, during which Napoleon, by his ingenious plans, 
rapid movements and daring assaults, out-generaled his 
antagonists completely. Although a mere youth he de- 


NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 


131 


feated the oldest and ablest generals in Europe, and by his 
new principles of strategy overturned their whole system 
of military science. These exploits drew the eyes of the 
world in wonder upon him and marked him for ultimate 
greatness. 

On his return to Paris in 1797 he was hailed with 
boundless enthusiasm as the idol of his countrymen and 
the man who had retrieved the prestige of France. He 
was twenty-eight years of age. The dazzled multitude 
attributed his success to intuitive genius alone. Some 
there were, however, who had seen him at Brienne study¬ 
ing the lives of Plutarch and of Caesar; some who had 
watched him as a student in Paris pinching and sacri¬ 
ficing to help his family; and some who had known him 
as a young officer working with a perseverance unknown 
among the soldiers—they knew that it was not genius 
alone, but a gigantic eagerness for knowledge and an 
almost superhuman capacity for work. 

He had plundered Italy and sent such rich and ex¬ 
quisite spoils to Paris that the war more than paid for 
itself. This pointed out to France a way to wage war 
with but little expense, and greatly facilitated his ambi¬ 
tious plans. He thought that the glory of France, as 
well as the security of its domestic government, required 
further supremacy in the scale of European nations. This 
could only be assured by the force of war. The diplo¬ 
matic machinations of England among the enemies of 
France directed first attention to her, and Napoleon was 
put in command of an army created to challenge her 
power. Realizing the futility of an invasion of the Brit¬ 
ish Isles at that time, he determined to strike her through 
Egypt. This plan was readily agreed to by the political 
heads of the government, whose jealousy and fear were 
aroused by Napoleon’s growing popularity and power. 
They were relieved to be rid of him until their positions 
were more secure. 


132 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


Napoleon dreamed of an Oriental realm, but the dream 
was short-lived. He captured the island of Malta and 
proceeded victoriously through Alexandria to Cairo, 
where he began to reorganize the civil and military gov¬ 
ernment of Egypt. Word came that the English under 
Admiral Nelson had closely pursued them and destroyed 
practically the entire French fleet, cutting the line of com¬ 
munication with Europe by sea. This was the first mani¬ 
festation of that dogged hatred between the two men 
which followed him through his career and hung a leaden 
weight upon his ambitious dreams even to the field of 
Waterloo. The Sultan seized the opportunity to declare 
a holy war. Napoleon led his army with all possible 
haste into Syria, thence into Eastern Europe, where he 
left it sadly depleted, in command of General Kleber. 

Receiving word that the Directory was in tottering 
disorder and the credit of the government wholly gone, 
he hurried back to France. Upon his arrival in Paris 
he immediately realized that his ideals of liberty and 
equality were nothing but watchwords for destruction in 
the hands of the ignorant impulsive classes. He saw that 
the revolution needed a guiding hand and France a direct¬ 
ing head. 

With the co-operation of Moreau and other generals 
then in Paris, he succeeded in abolishing the Directory 
early in November. A new constitution was drawn up, 
under which there were to be three consuls—Napoleon, 
Cambaceres, a famous lawyer, and Lebrun, a skilled ad¬ 
ministrator. Napoleon as First Consul had practically all 
power. He could appoint all public officers, propose all 
public measures in peace and war, and command all ad¬ 
ministrative affairs, both civil and military. He was thirty 
years of age. 

The great popular feeling was strongly with the 
First Consul. He systematically set about reforming the 


NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 


188 


civil affairs of France. He recruited the national treas¬ 
ury, founded the Bank of France, recalled the “Emigres” 
of the Revolution, created the “Legion of Honor,” re¬ 
opened churches, established schools and hospitals, re¬ 
pealed the more violent laws that had been passed during 
the revolution, and, most important of all, showed match¬ 
less ability in promoting the industry and commerce of 
the nation. In fact, economic progress was so rapid as to 
arouse great uneasiness in England. 

Having thus established and invigorated the govern¬ 
ment, he created a sentiment favorable to the renewal of 
hostilities against Austria, England and Turkey. He 
offered terms of peace which he knew could only be re¬ 
jected, and started his campaign against Austria through 
Italy. While his other generals were fighting elsewhere, 
by the most skillful preparation and in deepest secrecy, 
Napoleon himself led an army in a surprise attack across 
the Alps into Italy. He advanced into the open plain 
with a comparatively small number, and under the guise 
that it was only a division, engaged the entire Austrian 
army in the battle of Marengo. At 4 o’clock in the 
afternoon his generals reported that a retreat had com¬ 
menced. Yet, when his expected reinforcements arrived, 
Napoleon, in the midst of unbelievable havoc, remained 
cool, and with remarkable deliberation spent an hour 
planning an attack which turned defeat into decisive vic¬ 
tory. Within two months he captured and set up govern¬ 
ments in Milan, Turin and Genoa. 

Although Napoleon’s antagonists could seldom antici¬ 
pate his plans, and his own generals were frequently un¬ 
certain because of his deliberate secretiveness, he himself 
had very positive and well-defined rules of warfare: 

“Attacks should not be scattered, but should be con¬ 
centrated.” 

“Always he superior to the enemy at the point of at¬ 
tack.” 


184 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


“Time is everything.” 

To these essentials he added marvelously inventive strat¬ 
egy. 

During one of his brief visits to Paris, the Austrians 
were so severely defeated by General Moreau that they 
sued for peace, and Napoleon concluded the Treaty of 
Luneville, February 9, 1801. Treaties were subsequently 
made with Spain, Naples, Portugal, Russia, Turkey and 
the Pope. Finally, on March twenty-seventh, 1802, the 
Peace of Amiens was concluded, by which England was to 
retain Ceylon and Trinidad, but was to evacuate the is¬ 
lands and ports of the Mediterranean; France was to re¬ 
store Malta to the Knights of the Order of St. John, to 
restore Egypt to Turkey, to guarantee the integrity of 
Portugal, and to evacuate Rome and Naples. Neither 
side adhered to the treaty, which proved to be no more than 
a farcical armistice. 

August 4, 1802, by a decree of the Senate, Napoleon 
was made First Consul for life. He spent the next years 
in performing his greatest service to the French people 
and to the world. He assembled the foremost lawyers 
of the nation and drew up a code of civil laws, known 
later as “The Code Napoleon.” 

This code is but another monument to an intellect whose 
grasp was universal. Heretofore, France had been di¬ 
vided into provinces, each governed by its own peculiar 
and imperfect laws and customs. There had been no 
great system of jurisprudence or coincidence of laws. 
All had been confusion and insecurity. The Code Na¬ 
poleon was a system of laws of such perfect and universal 
application that the rights of persons and property were 
everywhere fixed. Security was felt and public confidence 
established. 

Good laws and their impartial administration are the 
essence of liberty and the foundation of happiness. Na- 


NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 


135 


poleon gave these to France. His code sprang into ex¬ 
istence at once with all these features of wisdom and 
perfection which other systems owed to the gradual im¬ 
provement of centuries. 

On Easter Sunday, 1802, a concordat with the Pope 
was proclaimed with great pomp at Notre Dlame, by 
which the Roman Catholic religion, which had been driven 
from France by the Revolution, was reestablished, with 
such restrictions as to make the Church subordinate to 
the state. 

The conception of the Louisiana Purchase, usually at¬ 
tributed to Thomas Jefferson, because completed by rep¬ 
resentatives whom he had sent to buy New Orleans, was 
in reality the fruit of Napoleon’s brain. It was on Easter 
Sunday, April 10th, 1803, while attending service in Notre 
Dame, that the idea came to him which was to he of such 
vital import to the future of the United States. His 
active brain never relaxed from the weight of state, and 
no one knew as well as he the danger of losing that 
American colony through the power of England’s su¬ 
preme navy. The sudden inspiration to sell the whole 
territory to America caused Napoleon to abruptly leave 
the Cathedral, call his cabinet, and present the idea to 
Robert Livingston, the United States Minister to France. 
Twenty days later, papers were signed deeding Louisiana 
to the United States for the sum of 15 million dollars. 
This purchase more than doubled the area of the United 
States. The area of the original 13 states was 827,844 
square miles; that of the Louisiana Purchase, 875,025 
square miles. 

But trouble was brewing in Europe. The incorpora¬ 
tion at this time of Elba, Piedmont and Parma with 
France was regarded by England as an infringement of 
the Treaty of Amiens. On May eighteenth, she de¬ 
clared war on France. Napoleon thought the time oppor- 


136 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


tune to gratify a burning ambition to assume imperial 
power and dignity. An appeal was made to the nation, 
and by a vote of over three million against less than 
three thousand, or one thousand to one, he was given the 
title and prerogatives of Emperor. He was thirty-five 
years of age. Napoleon was made Emperor by direct 
suffrage. His family was invested with the right of 
hereditary succession. 

On December second, 1804, at a coronation ceremony 
performed in Notre Dame by Pope Pius VII, Napoleon 
and Josephine were crowned Emperor and Empress of 
France. 

The old fear and jealousy of England increased with 
Napoleon’s power. She had long sought to form alliances 
against him by offers of naval, military and financial aid. 
Following rapidly upon the coronation, she united with 
Russia, Austria and Sweden in a coalition against the new 
Emperor. 

In France an army of 120,000 men was raised, appar¬ 
ently for the invasion of England. That project was un¬ 
expectedly abandoned, and Napoleon led his magnificent 
military machine into Austria. He was joined by Ber- 
nadotte (coming from Hanover) and by Marmont (from 
Holland), whose additional troops swelled the lists to 
200,000 men. Napoleon called it the Grand Army. 

Within two months (September and October, 1805) 
he marched from Boulogne to the Danube, overwhelm¬ 
ing his enemies by such masterly tactics that his loses were 
practically nothing. He seized Hanover, the appanage 
of the English kings, and established himself in the heart 
of Germany. Ulm capitulated and Vienna was at his 
mercy. He proceeded to Austerlitz, where he, as ever, 
showed the genius of his leadership by defeating the com¬ 
bined Russian and Austrian armies in an overwhelming 
victory (December 2, 1805). The importance of Auster- 


NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 


137 


litz is told in the last words of the great English statesman, 
William Pitt, who was mortally ill when word of the battle 
came. He sighed, “Alas, my country,” turned his face to 
the wall and died. 

Austria instantly sued for a separate peace, signed at 
Presburg December 26th. Russia retired behind her own 
frontier; England, in spite of her naval victory of Tra¬ 
falgar, which was the death-blow for Napoleon’s dream 
of an invasion, entered into an agreement whereby hos¬ 
tilities should cease by the restoration of Hanover. This 
caused dissension with the Prussians, who forthwith de¬ 
clared war with Prance. After the battle of Jena the 
German armies were driven in flight across the Elbe, and 
the French Emperor entered Berlin in triumph. 

Napoleon established himself at the head of the Con¬ 
federation of the Rhine, a league composed of sixteen 
German princes, including practically all of Germany, ex¬ 
cept Prussia and Austria. The Prussians had combined 
with Russia, and Napoleon boldly followed them into 
Poland. He won renowned victories at Eylan (Feb. 8, 
1807) and Friedland (June 14th). The three rulers met 
at Tilsit, where Napoleon dictated his own terms of peace. 
It is said that the beautiful Queen Louise of Prussia vainly 
tried to secure from him better terms. Napoleon wrote 
to Josephine of her, “The Queen of Prussia is really 
charming; she is full of coquetry toward me, but do not 
be jealous; I am an oilcloth off which all runs. It would 
cost me too dear to play the gallant.” 

After the Treaty of Tilsit, July 9th, 1807, Napoleon 
was at the zenith of his power. He was called the “King 
of Kings.” At thirty-seven years of age he was practically 
supreme Dictator in the continent of Europe. His crav¬ 
ing for glory was insatiable. He determined to under¬ 
mine the power of England by establishing the “conti¬ 
nental blockade.” It decreed that all continental govern- 


138 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


ments should confiscate the property of English citizens 
wherever found—and should prohibit all trade or inter¬ 
course with England. This forced coalition against Eng¬ 
land eventually led to the dethronement of the Pope, the 
conquest of Portugal (caused by their refusal to seize Brit¬ 
ish property), and the bitterly mistaken invasion of Spain, 
which ended in the seven years’ Peninsular War. It was 
first in Spain that Napoleon met with that sublime popular 
patriotism before which diplomacy and force lose their 
power. 

In the seizure of Spain were sown the first seeds of 
his downfall. It cost him 300,000 men and left him 
weakened in Central Europe. Northern Germany was 
in insurrection, and Austria, urged on by England, was 
preparing to strike another blow against him. Napoleon 
returned from Spain abruptly. He collected his scat¬ 
tered army with remarkable velocity and opened the road 
to Vienna within a month. Here he remained on the 
island of Lambau, ostensibly shut in by the Austrians, 
but in reality waiting reinforcements, which soon swelled 
his army to 150,000. July 4th, 1809, in a terrific storm, 
he led his troops, in a prodigious crossing of the Danube, 
to the fields of Wagram. After two days’ fighting, a 
great French victory resulted, and a peace compact was 
arranged by the Treaty of Vienna, October 14th, 1809. 
The surface of his success was again smooth. 

The years 1810 and 1811 were pinnacles of Napoleon’s 
greatness, and were spent in the luxury of court life. He 
never forgot them. His empire extended from the fron¬ 
tiers of Denmark to those of Naples. It was divided into 
one hundred and thirty provinces and had a population of 
42 million people. In addition, he had control over Spain, 
the Italian Kingdoms, Switzerland and the Confederation 
of the Rhine. France bestowed upon him all the adula¬ 
tion of her hero-worshipping people. 


NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 


139 


He was a born leader; his abounding self-confidence 
gave him courage to dare that which was apparently im¬ 
possible. His influence over men was phenomenal. As 
an inspirer of armies, a commander-in-chief, a strategist, 
a law-giver and a ruler, he was pre-eminent. His mental 
and physical vigor was almost incredible. He frequently 
held important conferences lasting throughout the night, 
and it was not unusual for him to give dictation from 
midnight to early morning. He required only four or 
five hours’ sleep. He kept three or four secretaries busy 
at once. With his abnormally retentive memory for de¬ 
tail he would correct a clerk in a trivial fact as unhesi¬ 
tatingly as a minister upon a matter of international im¬ 
port. Particularly in military matters this ability for 
detail and memory was almost superhuman. He knew 
without hesitation the precise situation of his armies, their 
strength in men and munitions, the names of their leaders 
and the amount of military stores on hand or required at 
all points. 

Napoleon’s deep loyalty and devotion to his own fam¬ 
ily did not waver with his dizzy rise to power. He lav¬ 
ished upon them great fortunes, high positions and royal 
titles. Joseph, his oldest brother, he made King of Na¬ 
ples; Louis (married to Josephine’s daughter, Hortense), 
King of Holland. His sisters became princesses; his 
mother was given the highest title in France, that of 
Madame Mere. 

It is remarkable that a man of such dynamic will should 
have been always so sensitive to the influence of his family. 
During this period of peace he was persuaded by them 
and other advisers to divorce his wife, Josephine, who 
had borne no children to succeed him as Emperor. Even 
after this separation they remained devoted friends, and 
Josephine died of a broken heart in 1814. Napoleon was 
a fatalist, and in after years often said that his good luck 


140 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


had departed with Josephine. Soon after the divorce he 
married the 18-year-old Austrian Archduchess, Marie Lou¬ 
ise. The next year, on March 20th, 1811, she gave birth to 
a son, who, in his cradle, was proclaimed King of Rome. 

We now turn the pages of Napoleon’s career regret¬ 
fully, yet with a growing appreciation of the fact that 
power lives through devotion to country and dies through 
devotion to self. In the midst of this apparent security 
there were forces of unrest at work prophetic of evil days 
to come. The Continental system was weighing heavily 
on the Russian people, and war soon became inevitable. 
In May, 1812, Napoleon concentrated at Dresden an 
army of over 650,000 men for the invasion of Russia and 
Sweden. It was called “The Army of Twenty Nations,” 
and in truth there were almost as many Slavs, Spaniards, 
Italians, Bavarians, Dutch, Poles and other foreigners as 
there were Frenchmen. 

The Russians craftily withdrew before his advance and 
his soldiers were unable to endure the hardships of a 
winter campaign in the vigorous climate (frequently 25 
degrees below zero). A disastrous retreat was forced by 
the burning of Moscow by the Russians. They had com¬ 
pletely devastated the country, so that no supplies were 
available, and in December, when the Emperor returned 
hastily in advance of his army to France, they had been re¬ 
duced to about 25,000 men. Had the campaign in Russia 
been victorious, the capstone of Napoleon’s imperial splen¬ 
dor would have been in place. 

But the spirit of Europe was gradually rising against 
this great devastation of life. Prussia, Russia, England, 
Sweden and Spain formed a coalition against Napoleon, 
who, by draining France of men and money, raised an¬ 
other army of 250,000 men to meet them. With this 
army in a campaign, which was doomed from the first to 
failure, he made a last stand against the allies—a stand 


NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 


141 


so feeble in men and morale that on March 30th, 1814, 
Paris fell into the hands of Alexander and Wellington. 
The French Emperor was forced to abdicate the throne. 
He wrote and signed the following document: “The al¬ 
lied powers, having proclaimed that the Emperor Napo¬ 
leon Bonaparte is the only obstacle to the re-establishment 
of peace in Europe, the Emperor Napoleon, faithful to 
his oath, declares that he renounces for himself and his 
heirs, the throne of France and Italy, and that there is no 
personal sacrifice, even that of his life, which he is not 
ready to make in the interest of France.” 

Napoleon retired with his guard to the Island of Elba, 
of which he had been allowed sovereignty. He was given 
a revenue of six million francs, and with apparent con¬ 
tent reorganized the government of the little island and 
inaugurated many beneficial reforms. But his heart 
longed for leadership, for his people and for his army. 
During his ten months in Elba he was quietly planning 
and awaiting the period of unrest he knew would follow 
the return of the Bourbons. On the first day of March, 
1815, he landed at Cannes, on the southern coast of France, 
with 1,000 of his faithful “Old Guard.” His dramatic and 
audacious confidence was rewarded with a thrilling re¬ 
sponse. 

The army, which had tearfully and reluctantly parted 
from the man who had led them through so many battles 
to victory, had shared their hardships, inspired their love, 
and understood them always, received with enthusiasm 
and admiration that same man whose courage and daring 
fearlessness had brought him back from exile and defeat. 
The whole south of France threw itself at Napoleon’s feet 
and he began a triumphant march to Paris. The troops 
sent forth under Marshal Ney to bring him back “in an 
iron cage” joined his forces and marched back to Paris 
with him, while the craven King Louis XVIII fled. The 


142 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


Emperor often referred to this march from Cannes to 
Paris as the happiest event in his life. It exemplifies dis¬ 
tinctly a great secret of his success, which consisted of an 
ability to attempt the apparently impossible and by its 
very unexpectedness succeed. He surmounted the greatest 
obstacles and used them as a means to his own end. His 
triumphant march ended in an anti-climax which dulled 
Napoleon’s enthusiasm. Upon his return to Paris he 
found Josephine dead and Marie Louise departed indif¬ 
ferently to a gay life in Ajaccion; and his son in the hands 
of the enemy as hostage. 

The allies, astounded at the ease with which Napoleon 
was rehabilitated, sent an army under Wellington and 
Rliicher toward the French border. On June 16th, 1815, 
Napoleon with 130,000 men met and defeated Bliicher at 
Ligny. This, however, proved only a forerunner of the 
famous battle of Waterloo on June eighteenth. Never 
had the French soldiers shown such bravery and fighting 
ability. With inferior numerical forces they sustained 
during a whole day an aggressive attack against the Eng¬ 
lish, who dared not advance a foot until reinforced by 
20,000 Prussians. So tremendously outnumbered, no hu¬ 
man power could prevent defeat, though the devoted 
charge of the Old Guard under Marshal Ney, “the bravest 
of the brave,” will ring forever in the corridors of heroic 
history. The valiant French army was completely crushed 
and Napoleon’s power forever broken. He afterwards said: 
“I ought to have died at Waterloo, but the misfortune is 
that when a man most seeks death, he cannot find it. Men 
were killed around me, before, behind, everywhere, hut 
there was no bullet for me.” Throughout his career he 
seemed to bear what his soldiers called a charmed life. 
Hero of innumerable battles, he was not destined to die 
upon the field of honor. 

This famous battle stands among the most critical events 


NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 


143 


of history. It put an abrupt close to the predatory ambi¬ 
tion of the French as inspired by Napoleon and restored 
confidence to the tottering allied powers. The great con¬ 
queror, of whom Wellington said: “I would at any time 
rather hear that a reinforcement of 40,000 men had joined 
the French army than that Napoleon had arrived to take 
command,” was again forced to abdicate the throne. He 
determined on a course entirely characteristic of his de¬ 
cisive nature, and placed himself voluntarily in the hands 
of his greatest enemy, England. He wrote the King of 
England: “Royal Highness: Exposed to the factions 
which divide my country and to the hostility of the great¬ 
est power of Europe, I have closed my political career. I 
have come, like Themistocles, to seek the hospitality of the 
British Nation. I place myself under the protection of its 
laws, which I claim from your Royal Highness as the 
most powerful, the most constant, and the most generous 
of my enemies.—Napoleon.” 

But his return from Elba was well remembered. His 
marvelous recuperative power was so feared that he was 
confined as a prisoner of the English government on the 
Island of St. Helena by authority of a secret convention 
signed by Great Britain, Austria, Russia and Prussia. 

At his residence, “Longwood,” Napoleon spent the re¬ 
maining five years of his life. There he meditated upon 
his shattered glories and wrote of them in his “Memoirs.” 
He was under strict guard and not permitted to see his 
family or friends. In reality the defeated conqueror lived 
out that admonition to his generals—“Death is nothing. 
But to live vanquished and without glory, is to die every 
day.” 

He died May 5th, 1821. His last request was: “Bury 
me on the banks of the Seine among the people whom I 
so much love.” The English officials had him buried on 
the Island of St. Helena, but his remains were later re¬ 
moved to Paris and placed under the Dome des Invalides. 


144 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


It is manifestly unfair to judge Napoleon from a twen¬ 
tieth century point of view, after the lapse of a century of 
unprecedented advancement in science, art, literature and 
democracy. Let us rather judge him by his own people, 
who, twenty years after his death, brought his body to 
place it in a magnificent mausoleum “On the banks of 
the Seine.” They brought it reverently, even worship- 
fully. When it arrived more than a million Frenchmen 
surged and struggled to catch even a glance of the sar¬ 
cophagus that contained his precious remains. They erected 
a monument for his body—the most unique, massive and 
impressive ever constructed to the memory of man. 

Never in the history of France have its people risen in 
such unanimous accord to do homage to man. They came 
from every corner of France and waited in line for days 
to see or to touch the coffin of the man whose personality 
was the acme of a curious charm and magnetism. Even 
cynics, beholding their adulation, said: “Something great 
must have been in this man, something loving and kindly, 
that has left his name so cherished in the popular memory 
and gained him such lasting reverence and affection.” 

The pathetic word “terminus” is not written on the 
tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte. So long as France lives 
Napoleon will live. The greatness of his transcendent 
genius glorifies his life and immortalizes his memory. 

The magic of Napoleon’s name will never lose its spell 
over men. 

Note. —It is interesting to note the augmented regard of the French 
nation for Napoleon Bonaparte at the crisis of their existence. When 
they desired to bestow upon General Pershing the most signal honor 
possible, they laid in his hand the sword and grand cross cordon of 
the Legion of Honor, which belonged to Napoleon. They paid him 
what they considered their highest possible tribute to a soldier by 
permitting him to touch the sacred relics of their national hero and 
conqueror. This was the most signal honor France ever bestowed upon 
any man. Although kings and princes have visited this tomb, no hand 
had touched these sacred relics since the time of Louis Philippe. 










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T- £§ 






Mil 


OTTO VON BISMARCK 































































































BISMARCK 


THE ACHIEVER OF GERMAN UNITY 

1815-1898 

F OR generations Germany consisted of over two hun¬ 
dred disorganized and conflicting states, principali¬ 
ties and independent cities. Frederick the Great of 
Prussia had made of his kingdom the cornerstone upon 
which Otto Edward Leopold von Bismarck, also a Prus¬ 
sian, was to build the German Empire. Frederick was the 
hero of the German people and their model in general¬ 
ship. Bismarck was to become the high-priest of Ger¬ 
man statesmen and their model in statecraft. It was he 
who first realized that so long as disunion existed the 
political divisions of Germany would continue to be mere 
pawns on the chessboard of European politics and diplo¬ 
macy. It became the ambition and the dream of his life 
to consolidate the various branches of the German people 
and mould them into a unified nation. 

He was born April first, 1815, the year in which Na¬ 
poleon’s last army was annihilated at Waterloo and in 
which the Congress of Vienna met to reconstruct the gov¬ 
ernments of Europe. Chief among the tasks of this body 
of eminent statesmen was the reorganization of Germany, 
which had been more or less held together by the loose 
Confederation of the Rhine, composed of Austria, Prussia, 
Saxony, Hanover, Bavaria and Wiirtemberg—together 
with thirty-three smaller kingdoms, principalities and free 
towns. The largest state inhabited wholly by Teutons was 
the kingdom of Prussia, ruled by Frederick William III. 
Austria, which was one of the largest and most populous 
(145) 


146 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


monarchies of Europe, headed the confederation under the 
chancellorship of the great statesman, Metternich, who pre¬ 
sided at the Congress of Vienna. Although the Emperor of 
Austria ruled twenty million Teutons, his dominion includ¬ 
ed equally as many inhabitants of Italian, Slavonic and 
Hungarian provinces. Austria could never have consolidat¬ 
ed the German people. Although the career of Napoleon 
had taught the necessity for a common defense, any com¬ 
mon government for this conglomeration of small states 
controlled by heterogeneous Austria was impossible; nor 
was a common government brought about until more than 
half a century later, when in 1870 Bismarck and Moltke 
led the Prussian army into Paris. 

Bismarck grew to manhood surrounded by the memories 
of desolation wrought upon his country by Napoleon’s 
armies. Throughout his life he was destined to reckon 
with France, for as he himself said: “Mercurial France 
was the thermometer that marked the height of the revolu¬ 
tionary heat in phlegmatic Prussia.” Scarcely had the 
influences of Napoleon begun to fade when new rum¬ 
blings were heard in the direction of France. The long- 
slumbering revolution broke at Paris in 1880. Louis 
XVIII, who wore the French crown, that he considered 
“the gift of God,” refused to accept it as the gift of the 
French nation and was dethroned. The Bourbons were 
thus unseated and Louis Philippe, the “Citizen King,” 
ascended the throne by popular election, powerfully aided 
by Marquis Lafayette, the friend of American freedom. 
Louis Philippe reigned as king, not of France, but of the 
French. 

The news of the revolution struck Germany like an 
inundation and produced a remarkable effect upon young 
Bismarck. His natural impulses inclined him toward 
democracy, but the impression this created upon his mind 
did not cause him to espouse radical reform, but bred in 


BISMARCK 


147 


him contempt for such liberal movements. He witnessed 
the wild demonstration of joy with which the masses in 
Prussia greeted all revolutionary news from Paris. But 
revolutions were anarchy in his estimation. 

That “see-saw from revolution to reaction and from re¬ 
action to revolution,” which was permeating the world was 
in direct contrast to Bismarck’s belief that evolution could 
only rise to its height through sober judgment and right 
reason. As he grew older, two decided convictions grew out 
of his peculiar patriotism. The first was his dislike of 
foreign influence; the second, his belief in the divine 
right of kings. Bismarck was not prone to admire men of 
other nations. He was a whole-souled Prussian, intoler¬ 
ant of his compatriots who habitually eulogized the achieve¬ 
ments and policies of France and England. He had little 
patience with George K. Nineke, a strong liberal, who 
constantly paraded Hampden and Pym as patterns worthy 
of imitation and urged that the Prussian people obtain 
power by means of a “Petition of Rights” and a “Bill of 
Rights.” Bismarck believed that the problems of Prussia 
rose out of a peculiar set of conditions, which demanded 
that they be settled by Prussian statesmen along Prussian 
lines. 

Early in his career he spoke of the Christian state in 
a way which clearly showed his belief in the divine right 
of kings. He wrote: 

“It is as old as every European state; it is the ground 
in which they have taken root; no state has a secure exist¬ 
ence unless it has a religious foundation. For me, the 
words, ‘by the Grace of God/ which Christian rulers add 
to their names, is no empty phrase; I see in them a con¬ 
fession that the princes desire to wield the sceptre which 
God has given them according to the will of God on earth. 
As the will of God I can only recognize that which has 
been revealed in the Christian Gospel—I believe that the 
realization of Christian teaching is the end of the state.” 


148 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


It is only by a consideration of this conviction that we 
may understand Bismarck’s policies, and know how he 
was enabled conscientiously to disregard popular clamor 
in the years that followed. 

The old Prussian King, Frederick William III, died in 
1840. He had been a member of the Congress of Vienna 
and had been persuaded by Metternich to help force 
through a series of measures for the restriction of the 
liberty of the press, for the control of the universities— 
those hot-beds of liberalism—and for the suppression of 
democratic opinion. 

His son, Frederick William IV, although a man of 
many gifts, was scarcely more liberal when in 1847 he 
summoned for the first time a United Diet at Berlin. It 
was the first parliament representing the whole of Prussia 
and the king expected nothing but homage from the as¬ 
sembled representatives. The young and unknown Bis¬ 
marck, who sat as a substitute in this parliament, listened 
to the king with unlimited approval. When he distin¬ 
guished himself as a loyalist in opposition to the aggres¬ 
sive liberal faction, the king discovered that he had a new 
friend in this young enthusiast so ready to devote his life 
to public duties. The king was to have great need of this 
friendship in the stormy times to come. 

In 1848 came another startling and futile French revo¬ 
lution, which dethroned the house of Orleans. Louis 
Philippe was forced to abdicate the throne and France 
set up a republic. In the south of Germany disorder 
registered sympathy with France and the excitement 
spread like wild fire until it involved the whole country. 
The Diet at Berlin, after its three months of ineffectual 
bickering and disputes, was dismissed. The Prussian Lib¬ 
erals, who had been watching England and France, had 
demanded a written constitution. The king had declared 


BISMARCK 


149 


with solemn emphasis that he would never permit a sheet 
of paper to come between him and God in Heaven. But 
now, after a fierce battle between the people and the sol¬ 
diers, the king was virtually made a prisoner in his own 
castle, was forced to swallow his medieval pride and prom¬ 
ise a constitution. 

Bismarck felt keenly that outrage and humiliation had 
been visited upon his sovereign by the people. He had 
met the king personally while on his wedding journey in 
Venice, and discussed freely with him the political prob¬ 
lems of Prussia. He wrote the unhappy monarch a letter 
which was treasured and read every day for months. 
Eventually Frederick William IV was forced to call a 
second United Diet, which sat for six months ineffectu¬ 
ally squabbling and quarreling. Bismarck sat as a sub¬ 
stitute member, although not in sympathy with its pur¬ 
pose. He tacitly accepted the principle of constitutional 
government only in the hope that the new power would 
be an instrument in the hands of the monarch to restrain 
popular agitation and to maintain order. Doctor Lord 
wrote of him: 

“I need not enumerate the subjects that came up for 
discussion in the new Prussian parliament, in which Bis¬ 
marck exhibited with more force than eloquence his loy¬ 
alty to the crown. His conservatism was branded by the 
liberals as medieval. But his originality, his humor, his 
biting sarcasm, his fertility of resources, his knowledge 
of men and affairs and his devoted patriotism marked him 
out for promotion.” 

In 1848 the Federal German Diet met at Frankfort-on- 
Main. It was in reality a national parliament represent¬ 
ing the entire German people. In spite of the fact that 
it was composed of high-minded and intelligently thought¬ 
ful men, it proved utterly impotent. When finally the 
parliament chose Frederick William IV of Prussia as 


150 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


German Emperor, the monarch was influenced by Bis¬ 
marck to refuse an honor which the people had no right 
to confer. The refusal agitated the socialists to open re¬ 
bellion and the Diet degenerated into a mere diplomatic 
conference dominated and weakened by intrigue and jeal¬ 
ousy. The Prussian and Austrian factions seldom agreed. 
Indeed, Bismarck thought it advantageous to Prussia to 
promote rivalry between them. Not until 1851 was the 
parliament revived. Bismarck was sent to represent Prus¬ 
sia. 

Although in these early years of his career, Bismarck 
appeared as a bigoted, fanatical man, these outward quali¬ 
ties only obscured the full glow of his final greatness. 
Brusque in manner, he had surpassing confidence in him¬ 
self and said of his polished fellow diplomats: 

“Nothing but miserable trifles do these people trouble 
themselves about. The men of the minor states are mostly 
mere caricatures of periwig diplomatists, who at once put 
on their official visage if I merely beg of them a light to 
my cigar.” ' 

His memory seeemd infallible in all details of state 
during those years of growth, due largely to his voracious 
reading and study of statecraft. Nothing escaped his 
watchful eye. He showed that he was an ultra royalist 
by reporting every detail to Berlin and by recommending 
new restrictions on the press and universities. His object 
was to prevent revolutions. He had little love for Ger¬ 
many outside of Prussia; to him Wurtemberg and Ba¬ 
varia were foreign states; Austria, whose principles he 
had formally upheld, became a foe, whose designs must 
be contravened for the glory of Prussia. 

At the age of thirty-six, Bismarck, a more or less im¬ 
poverished country squire, was swaying the German par¬ 
liament with his lightning repartee, his whimsical humor 
and his dynamic personality. 


BISMARCK 


151 


On January second, 1861, Frederick William IV died 
and was succeeded by his brother, the Prince Regent 
William I, grandfather of Kaiser William II. The new 
king was not only a soldier, but a patriotic ruler of com¬ 
mon sense and force. Summoning Bismarck to Berlin, 
he invested him with the powerful office of President of 
the Ministry. Their first move was to double the army. 
Bismarck not only foresaw war with Austria, but also the 
future preponderance of Prussia. He realized that Aus¬ 
tria must be thrust out of the Germanic body. The rul¬ 
ing passion of his life was to raise Prussia to the power 
to which Metternich had raised Austria. The king was 
in full accord with this ambition. Even the horror of 
the present war does not blind us to the fact that Bis¬ 
marck’s vision has been so truly realized. 

Bismarck was reckless as to the means of success. When 
parliament, in accordance with the popular demand, re¬ 
fused to vote supplies for the larger army, he dissolved 
it, admitting that he was acting unconstitutionally, but 
maintaining that his only purpose was to serve the coun¬ 
try. Although misunderstood by the masses of the people, 
and bitterly attacked by the press, he was unshaken. 
Prussia, in the meantime, under his guidance, was leaping 
forward in commerce; the railroads had rejuvenated in¬ 
ternal industry; traffic on the rivers had increased; foreign 
trade was growing; education was becoming a universal 
passion; general advancement was everywhere acceler¬ 
ated, except in matters political. Here Bismarck and the 
king believed that conservatism was indispensable to the 
welfare of the Fatherland. 

The cohesive power which was to hold the German 
Empire together was embodied in Bismarck’s principle 
of “blood and iron,” which made him known as the “Iron 
Chancellor.” He made full use of the superb Prussian 
military organization. Universal military training in Ger- 


152 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


many had been originated by Frederick William I one 
hundred years before. It was employed by Frederick the 
Great in his numerous wars, but was afterwards per¬ 
mitted to fall into temporary disuse. The system was re¬ 
vived and perfected by a group of men who came on the 
scene of action at the time Napoleon conquered Prussia. 
The most prominent of this group were Stein, Scharnhorst, 
Gneisenau and Roon, who reorganized and finally estab¬ 
lished the Prussian military system which had not been 
changed in any essential respect. The military system 
which Bismarck fostered and developed was merely an 
instrument in his hand for realizing his dream of a unified 
nation. 

Bismarck had traveled extensively in England and Italy 
and had been Ambassador to Austria, Russia and France. 
He had met and conversed with the leading men of Europe. 
Fortunately for Prussia, no one then living so exactly un¬ 
derstood the political world status as he. A diplomatic 
crisis now threatened and for a time public thought was 
diverted from internal matters to the more serious ques¬ 
tions of foreign policy. In 1863, when Poland revolted 
against Russia, England, France and Austria remon¬ 
strated with the Czar on behalf of the Poles. Prussian 
public sentiment was overwhelmingly in favor of Polish 
independence. Bismarck, however, realized “that an in¬ 
dependent Poland would be the irreconcilable enemy of 
Prussia and that the Polish question was to them a ques¬ 
tion of life and death.” William I wrote an autograph 
letter to the Czar of Russia proposing that the two coun¬ 
tries stand together. This step aroused unbounded popu¬ 
lar indignation, but it retained the favor of the Czar which 
Bismarck had so cleverly gained by refusing to join Aus¬ 
tria and the western allies during the Crimean war. He 
succeeded in making his people understand that Prussia 
would cease to exist if Polish nationality and Russian pol- 


BISMARCK 


153 


icy ever predominated. By this move he gained the Czar’s 
gratitude, which alone made his subsequent projects 
feasible. 

An extract from a letter which he wrote to Motley, the 
historian, one of Bismarck’s many American friends, re¬ 
veals the bitterness of his contention with parliament at 
this time: 

“I am obliged to listen to particularly tasteless speeches 
out of the mouths of uncommonly childish and excited 
politicians. I never thought that in my riper years, I 
should be obliged to carry on such an unworthy trade as 
that of Parliamentary Minister. I have come down in 
the world and hardly know how. * * * I sit and hear 

nonsense. All these people have agreed to approve our 
treaty with Belgium, in spite of which twenty speakers 
scold each other vehemently. They are not agreed about 
the motives which made them unanimous, hence, alas! a 
regular German squabble about the Emperor’s beard. You 
Anglo-Saxon Yankees have something of the same kind 
also. * * * Your battles are bloody; ours wordy.” 

The time was now approaching when the policies of Bis¬ 
marck and William I were to receive the universal sup¬ 
port of the people. The ultimate triumph was the success 
of the army under the great general, Von Moltke. Bis¬ 
marck, who had been denounced as a Catiline, a Strafford, 
a Poligna, was to be honored as the man who had made 
Prussia one of the powerful nations of the world. 

When the King of Denmark, who was also Duke of 
Schleswig-Holstein, died in 1863, Austria and Prussia at 
once joined in a prodigious scheme to acquire for them¬ 
selves the two duchies, which had been so long contested. 
An Austro-Prussian army invaded Schleswig-Holstein 
and forced Denmark to give them up. England was par¬ 
ticularly outraged and offered indignant protest. Even 
the Prussian Chamber refused to grant money for the 


154 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


enterprise, and boldly declared the transaction null and 
void. Immediately Bismarck dissolved it and cooly in¬ 
formed his opponents that the Chamber had nothing to 
do with politics. In the division of the conquered terri¬ 
tory, an endless succession of disputes arose between Aus¬ 
tria and Prussia. There, was no way of settling the com¬ 
plex difficulties except by war. 

Bismarck hoped and believed that war would bring 
German unity by exalting Prussia and expelling Austria 
from the confederation. Although his idea was bitterly 
opposed by the populace and the entire royal family, it 
was shortly vindicated. 

It was during these days of struggle and frantic de¬ 
nouncement that one of the incidents occurred so typical 
of Bismarck’s venturesome courage and indomitable spirit. 
It was in Berlin on May seventh, 1866, while walking 
along Unter den Linden that he was fired upon at close 
quarters by a young Jewish revolutionist. Bismarck, al¬ 
though unarmed, rushed upon his assailant, but did not suc¬ 
ceed in overpowering him until five shots had been fired— 
burning his clothes and even drawing blood. He delivered 
his assailant over to the police and joined his family at 
dinner with an unbelievable self-possession. 

The war began on a prodigious scale with Austria and 
the greater states on one side against Prussia, leagued 
with various minor states. Four great Prussian armies 
set forth, and within seven weeks Saxony, Hesse, Nassau, 
Frankfort-on-Main, Bavaria and Wiirtemberg were 
brought to humble terms. Three of the armies pushed 
against Austria until they finally met at Sodowa and 
gained overwhelming victory of Koniggratz. Two mighty 
factors decided the contest—Count von Moltke, the great¬ 
est strategist since Napoleon, and the Prussian breech¬ 
loading needle gun. It was with great difficulty that the 
elated Prussians were dissuaded from marching on to 


BISMARCK 


155 


Vienna. Bismarck with keen foresight realized the danger 
of incurring Austria’s enmity, for he saw a great war with 
France coming in the near future. At least he stood so 
firmly for “never making your enemy so angry that he can¬ 
not get over it” that he again successfully resorted to the 
threat he so often and effectively practised—resignation. 

The Prussian people were frantic with joy over the vic¬ 
tory—a victory which dazed the world. 

Instantly the hated Bismarck became a national idol. 
His marvelous diplomacy, firm patience and unswerving 
purpose were universally acknowledged. 

The triumphal return of the Prussian troops from the 
glorious field of Koniggratz was followed at once by the 
opening of the first Parliament of the North German 
Confederation. The parliament was composed of an up¬ 
per council to represent the political division of North Ger¬ 
many, and a lower house to represent the people, chosen by 
universal suffrage. 

The Confederation was under the presidency of the 
king, who was commander-in-chief of the united armies. 
Thus Bismarck, the royalist, the devotee of the monarchi¬ 
cal system unconsciously became the most dynamic factor 
in giving his country a semblance of democratic govern¬ 
ment. 

Meantime secret treaties of alliance were concluded 
with the states of South Germany in order to checkmate 
the intrigues of Napoleon III. The Austrian chagrin 
and French wrath thereby provoked were precisely what 
the great Prussian arch-diplomat wanted. Bismarck 
sought to drive into frenzy the vain-glorious rulers of 
the French. After the battle of Koniggratz, he had in¬ 
veigled Napoleon into sending to Berlin the draft of a 
treaty for the annexation of the Bavarian Palatinate to 
France. 

Both Napofeon and Bismarck secretly desired the war 


156 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


and prepared with all energy for it. Ostensibly in order 
to promote “peace,” Bismarck and Moltke had visited the 
exposition at Paris. Napoleon, surrounded by a flatter¬ 
ing court, was certain that his preparation for the impend¬ 
ing conflict was complete. Although the Prussian army 
had vanquished the Austrians at the Battle of Konig- 
gratz, yet the French had also defeated them at Solferine. 
Prussia had conquered with her newly invented breech¬ 
loading needle gun; but France had secretly armed her 
soldiers with that terrible engine of war, the breech-loading 
Chassepot gun. 

“Nothing was now wanting but the spark to kindle the 
conflagration; and this was applied by the nomination of 
a German prince to the vacant throne of Spain. The 
Prussian king gave way in the matter of Prince Leopold, 
but refused further concessions. Leopold was sufficiently 
magnanimous to withdraw his claims, and here French in¬ 
terference should have ended. But France demanded guar¬ 
antees that no further candidates should be proposed with¬ 
out her consent. Of course, the Prussian king—seeing 
with the keen eyes of Bismarck, and armed to the teeth 
under the supervision of Moltke, the greatest general of 
the age, who could direct, with the precision of a steam 
engine on a track, the movements of the Prussian army, 
itself a mechanism—treated with disdain this imperious 
demand from a power which he knew to be inferior to his 
own. Count Bismarck craftily lured on his prey, who was 
already goaded forward by his home war party, with the 
Empress at their head; negotiations ceased and Napoleon 
III made his fatal declaration of hostilities, to the grief 
of the few statesmen who foresaw the end.” 

On July nineteenth, 1870, the French declaration of 
war became known in Berlin. Bismarck, at this strategic 
moment, brought to the press those previous proposals of 
France to annex territories belonging to the Netherlands, 


BISMARCK 


157 


Belgium, and Bavaria. It was this documentary evidence 
of Napoleon’s perfidy which worked such a transforma¬ 
tion in the attitude of southern Germany toward Prussia 
and set France in the wrong before the world. It com¬ 
pleted another link in the chain which the great chancellor 
was forging for the ultimate unity of the German empire. 
It brought the forces of the German army up to a million 
men and this mighty machine was perfect in construction, 
distribution and co-operation. 

In September, 1870, Napoleon III marched with an en¬ 
thusiastic army straight to the fatal field of Sedan, where 
the entire French force became prisoners of war, includ¬ 
ing the Emperor himself. The triumphant Germans 
marched on Paris and besieged the city. Meantime Ger¬ 
man victories continued and the French Republic was 
proclaimed. Bismarck established himself at Versailles 
and accomplished prodigious work—ending in a peace 
with Thiers and Favre—the representatives of the French 
Republic. In a position to dictate almost any terms, he 
exacted from France Alsace and Lorraine [provinces orig¬ 
inally taken from Germany in 1648 by Louis XIV] in 
addition to the huge indemnity of five thousand million 
francs. Surrounding the picturesque Place de la Con¬ 
corde in Paris are statues representing the cities of France. 
On festival days when flowers decorate the other statues, 
that of Strassburg, the capital of Alsace-Lorraine, is 
draped in mourning. It is the dream of France to tear 
away those black memories and replace them with wreaths 
of victory. The ambition to regain these surrendered prov¬ 
inces was one of the rootlets of the World War. It has 
been said that not Nietzsche nor Treitschke nor Bern- 
hardi, but the successes of 1870 were responsible for the 
world tragedy. 

When Von Moltke advised Bismarck not to take Alsace- 
Lorraine because it would be a source of future contention 
he little realized the truth of this prophetic vision. 


158 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


Bismarck now reached the climax of his career. King 
William I of Prussia was crowned German Emperor in 
the historic hall of Louis XIV in the palace of Versailles. 
The Teutonic race was finally united under one monarch 
and one flag. Honors and added responsibilities were 
showered upon the man who had wrought one nation out 
of thirty-nine and who had set up a government destined 
to be a vigorous, quickened model of economic efficiency— 
who had built up an army which was amazing the world 
with almost daily victories. 

While the excesses of Prussian militarism have brought 
down upon Germany the condemnation of the world, yet 
recognition must be given to the important role played 
by the German people in the development of modern 
civilization. Along with Greek Art, Roman Law, Eng¬ 
lish Constitutional Government and American Democracy, 
German Efficiency is one of the great heritages of man¬ 
kind. 

Although Bismarck’s greatest work was done, there 
were treaties to be made and a constitution to be adopted. 
These were drafted under his personal direction. Parlia¬ 
ment now represented twenty-five states. It was divided 
as before into the Bundesrath, or Imperial Council, and 
the Reichstag, or Imperial Diet. As Chancellor, Bis¬ 
marck was the only minister of the empire. He was given 
the title of Prince and a magnificent estate. In the very 
prime of life, Bismarck held a self-made position in 
Europe rarely equalled. For almost twenty years he con¬ 
tinued to direct the affairs of the nation. 

He made political pilgrimages to many capitals. 
Friendly relations increased steadily with Italy, Sweden, 
the Netherlands, Spain—even with Austria. After the 
year of struggle between Russia and Turkey, which had 
ended in the Treaty of San Stefano—so fatal to Turkey, 
and bringing England to daggers’ points with Prussia, 


BISMARCK 


159 


Bismarck called a conference in Berlin (June, 1878 ). 
As President, he sat at the head of this body of eminent 
statesmen, the most important conference held in Europe 
since the Congress of Vienna had met to close the Na¬ 
poleonic wars. In spite of the German Chancellor’s for¬ 
mer friendship for Russia, an ill-feeling had been recently 
brewing between the two countries which came to a cli¬ 
max in the Berlin conference. “All possible concessions 
were made to Turkey and Great Britain, and although 
Bismarck had done all possible for Russia consistent with 
the interest of Europe,” he failed to satisfy the Russian 
government. The denunciations heaped upon him only 
clarified his vision of the future dangers for Germany. 
He forthwith made a dual alliance with Austria in which 
“Prussia and Austria were to stand together in any at¬ 
tack by Russia and France.” Very shortly France a- 
roused the bitterness of Italy by taking Tunis—so long 
coveted by the Italians. Bismarck seized the opportunity 
to form the Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria 
and Italy against France and Russia. He thereby hoped 
for that final peace of which he said: 

“The long and short of it is that we must be as strong 
as we possibly can be in these days. We lie in the midst 
of Europe. We have at least three sides open to attack. 
God has placed on one side of us the French—a most 
warlike and restless nation—and He has allowed the fight¬ 
ing tendencies of Russia to become great; so we are forced 
into measures, which, perhaps, we would not otherwise 
make. And the very strength for which we strive shows 
that we are inclined to peace, for with such a powerful 
machine as we wish to make the German army, no one 
would undertake to attack us. We Germans fear God, 
but nothing else in the world, and it is the fear of God 
which causes us to love and cherish peace.” 

Nor was the scope of Bismarck’s statesmanship con- 


160 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


fined to Germany alone. The affairs of all Europe cen¬ 
tered in him. He was the “prophet of the new epoch.” 
His insight was so deep and his foresight so vast that he 
stood strong and alone in his greatness. His advice was 
sought by the renowned statesman Gladstone, who, more¬ 
over, was little loved by Bismarck. His favorite Eng¬ 
lish portrait was one of Disraeli. “The old Jew,” he often 
said, “he is a man.” 

Bismarck had spent great energy in enlarging the Ger¬ 
man navy and he kept it in constant effective action— 
collecting debts in South America and China, protecting 
Christians in Syria, keeping peace in Greek waters, de¬ 
stroying slave trade in Africa, protecting the wide-spread¬ 
ing and increasing German colonies. He gave much time 
in solving domestic and political reforms and ecclesias¬ 
tical disputes. When his attempt to secure all the rail¬ 
ways for the government failed, he compromised by bring¬ 
ing them all under an imperial control which was most 
advantageous to the state. He found new sources of 
imperial revenue in indirect taxation. He adopted a new 
imperial coinage—as sadly needed as was our new financial 
system after the civil war. 

In direct contradiction to his old theory of “the gov¬ 
ernment being everything, the individual nothing,” he 
brought about the most daring socialistic reform ever 
adopted by a modern nation—compulsory state insurance 
for workingmen against accident, illness and old age. It 
is known as “Workmen’s Compensation,” and has been 
adopted in the United States and other countries. 

Although his health was greatly undermined by ex¬ 
cessive work, he carried on an active war against free trade 
with the eminent political economists of his day. 

His capacity for work was colossal, and yet his mod¬ 
esty and careful suppression of compliments to himself, 
either written or spoken, is not found to such extent in 


BISMARCK 


161 


any other great man, save Abraham Lincoln. Never in 
his life did Bismarck sacrifice his ideals or the interests 
of Prussia to the fear of public disapproval or a desire 
to be applauded in the court and the theatres. Each year 
of his life was fertile with service to his country. 

In 1888, at the death of his devoted friend and Em¬ 
peror, William I, Bismarck was the power behind the 
throne of Germany. But the new Emperor, Frederick 
III, was generally known to be in opposition to the Chan¬ 
cellor’s policies. His wife was the daughter of the Brit¬ 
ish Queen, and he himself had spent much of his life in 
England. “But in spite of his preferences for English 
constitutional monarchy over German absolutism,” the 
noble Frederick had unlimited respect and admiration for 
Bismarck. Perhaps because of this, perhaps because of 
the knowledge of how soon disease was to cut short his 
life and rule, the Emperor retained the Chancellor in 
power. 

After ninety-nine days, Frederick died, and was suc¬ 
ceeded by Emperor William II, who had undergone the 
most stringent military, naval, university and political 
discipline. He loved the old Chancellor, and it was gen¬ 
erally hoped and understood that the Bismarckian era 
would continue. But William II soon showed that his 
imperial will was not prone to move in the old grooves 
as represented by Bismarck. Their diff erences rapidly led 
to a dispute—in itself a mere technicality—which caused 
the Emperor to demand a resignation, taking effect March 
twentieth, 1890. 

It were better not to dwell upon the following eight 
years of the great statesman’s life. Although the Em¬ 
peror bore no personal grudge and issued eloquent tribute 
to Bismarck’s services, conferring on him the great Duke¬ 
dom of Launburg, the Chancellor showed a pitiful 
reluctance to retire to that private life for which he had 


162 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


so often longed. The outburst of national resentment 
which the Emperor’s action had caused did not reconcile 
him to loss of power. He criticized the government as 
ruthlessly as he had formerly led it wisely. But pity is 
due to the heart-broken old man, who knew so well the 
height of European glory and mourned so naturally the 
loss of it. 

At his death, in 1898, all Germany rose to do him 
homage. A national monument was erected to him in 
front of the Imperial Parliament House at Berlin. Bis¬ 
marck stands out as the establisher of German’s nation¬ 
ality and as one of the greatest European statesmen. 
History will include him among the great founders of 
empires. Yet, notwithstanding his wisdom and achieve¬ 
ments, there were grave defects in his statecraft and 
diplomacy. 

Napoleon’s ruling passion was super-self-aggrandize¬ 
ment at the sacrifice of his country’s best welfare; Bis¬ 
marck’s ruling passion was the super-aggrandizement of 
his country at the sacrifice of the world’s best welfare. 
His patriotism was so intensely centered on Prussia that 
he was led at times to violate the high standards of inter¬ 
national usage which control the intercourse between 
nations. 

His policies and personality brought Germany to the 
highest pinnacle as a world power. The exaggeration of 
these policies which dominated the reign of William II 
brought the German Empire today face to face with a 
hostile world. 

In power of comprehending divers currents of diplo¬ 
matic movements, no man has been superior to Bismarck. 
He is a titanic figure in the patriotic world. 
























\ 



































4 


















































































































mm 




CAMILLO BENSO CAVOUR 

























































CAVOUR 


ITALY^S CONSTRUCTIVE STATESMAN 

1810-1861 

I TALY, at the opening of the nineteenth century, was 
merely a collection of petty and despotic kingdoms, sub¬ 
ject to conquest and the alternate prey of powerful, 
conscienceless neighbors. Her own people were ground 
under the heel of a luxurious aristocracy. For more than 
a thousand years she had been trodden down by foreign 
rule. Germans, Saracens, Frenchmen and Spaniards had 
in turn devastated and tyrannized her. She had also been 
divided by feuds between numerous bigoted tyrants within 
her own country. The people groveled beneath a surge 
of cruelty and ignorance. On the surface, Italy was friv¬ 
olous and happy; she outwardly possessed that “fatal gift 
of beauty” which attracted pleasure seekers from the world 
over, but to the great masses it seemed as if the patriotic 
utterances of Dante and Michael Angelo had never been. 

When at St. Helena, Napoleon wrote, “Italy is des¬ 
tined to form a great nation; unity of language, customs 
and literature must, within a period more or less distant, 
unite her inhabitants under one sole government.” 

Although Napoleon had invigorated Italy in many 
ways, he had not fulfilled those promises of “liberty, fra¬ 
ternity, prosperity and glory” for the Italian people. At 
his downfall they were left in a pitiable state. At the 
Congress of Vienna, held by the principal powers of Eu¬ 
rope in 1814, the vassals of Austria were restored to the 
thrones of the Italian peninsula, thus re-establishing Aus¬ 
trian predominance in Italy. The Austrian Emperor, 
(163) 


164 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


Francis, announced that he required the universities to 
turn out not enlightened scholars, but obedient servants 
and subjects. His minister, Metternich, expressed the 
Austrian contempt for Italian independence when he said 
that Italy was simply a “geographical expression.” In 
reality, Italy was composed of the following duchies and 
kingdoms: Lombardy and Venetia, Austrian provinces, 
in the extreme north; Piedmont, belonging to the House 
of Savoy, to the northwest; Tuscany, under a branch of 
the Hapshurgs, further south; Parma, Lucca and Modena, 
under Austrian despots; the states of the Church, under 
the Pope, occupying central Italy; the kingdom of Naples, 
and the kingdom of the two Sicilies, under the Bourbons, 
in the extreme south. 

During the French Revolution there had grown up in 
this historic peninsula a great body of thoughtful and 
patriotic men and women—truly Italian in spite of Aus¬ 
trian control. They looked with great expectancy to the 
results of the revolution—that great upheaval which was 
preparing them for reconstruction and a unified political 
existence, and their ideas were communicated to the rising 
generation. 

From 1815 to 1831 the entire country was saturated 
with a spirit of socialism and revolution. Secret socie¬ 
ties were formed to gain ends which were openly pro¬ 
hibited. Chief among them was the Carbonari, a pow¬ 
erful organization that originated in Naples, which drew 
not only professional and military men, but even a few 
nobles into her ranks. Their motto was “Independence, 
a sound liberal government, and the confederation of the 
Italian States.” 

The Carbonari was followed by the association of 
“Young Italy,” fostered under the guidance of Giuseppe 
M. Mazzini—a brilliant young patriot, who had identi¬ 
fied himself with the Carbonari. Their aim was to make 


CAVOUR 


165 


of Italy a free and independent republic. They published 
a periodical called “Young Italy” (1832), but their ef¬ 
forts were quickly discovered and punished by wholesale 
death sentences. 

But the fundamental ideals of these great movements 
toward democracy and unification were to be forwarded 
in a more effective and powerful way by the judicious 
statesmanship of Count Camille Bensi di Cavour. 

Cavour was a man whose burning patriotism was of 
such unpretentiousness and modesty that keen discrimina¬ 
tion is indispensable to a thorough understanding of his 
high place in history. Cavour was the real cause of Italy’s 
rise to a free, invigorated, united nation. 

Italy’s roll of ancient and modern heroes is a notable 
one, but for disinterested patriotism and sound states¬ 
manship, Cavour outranks them all. 

Cavour was born in Turin, the capital of the kingdom 
of Sardinia, on August tenth, 1810, when Sardinia was 
under Napoleonic supremacy. He was descended from 
a noble family of ancient and honorable standing in that 
section of the peninsula. He especially exerted himself 
to rise above the handicap of being a second son, which 
greatly limited his rights and fortune. The principal ave¬ 
nues open to advancement were those of the army and the 
Church, and at the age of ten he entered the mili¬ 
tary academy at Turin. He was appointed a page at 
the court of Sardinia, but he was so little adapted to 
court etiquette, which he heartily disliked, that he was 
soon discharged from the position, “highly elated,” as he 
expressed it, “in having thrown off his pack saddle.” 

At school he was especially proficient in the study of 
mathematics, languages and history. He had a practical 
mind, and cared more for political economy and social 
science than for art or romance. He graduated at the 
head of his class, and at sixteen entered the army as a 
lieutenant of engineers. 


166 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


As an engineer, Cavour was employed in many impor¬ 
tant surveys and fortifications. But he brooded continu¬ 
ously over the degraded condition of Italy. While work¬ 
ing in Genoa, it was reported to the court that the young 
officer had expressed himself too freely on political af¬ 
fairs, and he was ordered to the lonely Alpine fortress of 
Bard for one year. At the end of the year he resigned 
his commission in the army, much to the chagrin of his 
family and to the satisfaction of the newly crowned 
Charles Albert, who considered him a young man with 
“too liberal views.” His character was no more fitted to 
the passive submission required by military discipline than 
it was to the position as court page. 

With great interest and energy he undertook the man¬ 
agement of his father’s estate at Leri, in Piedmont. He 
soon mastered the science of farming and became a leader 
in introducing new and progressive methods of agricul¬ 
ture. Such love of nature and of the soil is evident 
in the characters of many other statesmen. Not only 
Cavour, but Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Bismarck 
and many others spent parts of their lives actively en¬ 
gaged in farming. 

When twenty-four years old, at a time when the pros¬ 
pects of Italy inspired but little hope, Cavour wrote to a 
friend: “I am a very, an enormously ambitious man, and 
when I am Minister I shall justify my ambition; for, I 
tell you, in my dreams I already see myself Minister of 
the Kingdom of Italy.” The visions of a young man 
typify his greatness more exactly than his achievements. 
With this intuitive conviction that he was destined to 
play an important part in the future of his country, Ca¬ 
vour began to prepare himself for that day, just as his 
American contemporary, Abraham Lincoln, was prepar¬ 
ing himself to become President of the United States. 

Cavour spent the following seventeen years in prodig- 


CAVOUR 


167 


ious activities. He studied political science and political 
economy, collecting books and reports from England and 
France. He traveled extensively over the Italian penin¬ 
sula, and went to Switzerland, France and England to 
familiarize himself with political and social conditions. 
He studied in the Sorbonne at Paris and met with the 
foremost philosophers and statesmen of the age. The 
democratic monarchy of England was always his ideal 
form of government, and he was an enthusiastic admirer 
of Anglo-Saxon liberty. He studied the English Con¬ 
stitution thoroughly and drew from it those broad prin¬ 
ciples which characterize the Anglo-Saxon system of 
government, both in republican and monarchical form. 
He formed friendships which were to broaden and in¬ 
fluence his entire life—those friendships so often neg¬ 
lected by men who most need them. 

In 1842, on returning to Leri, he devoted his time to 
improving his estates, to political research and to writing. 
This vast knowledge of the world, political and commer¬ 
cial which he had sought unceasingly, formed the basis 
for that constructive genius which was to crystallize in 
the unity of the Italian peninsula. 

In 1847, Italy awakened to the consciousness of a new 
life. Sixteen years before this, Mazzini had appeared 
with a burning enthusiasm for liberty, desiring to cast 
aside every vestige of monarchical institutions and subor¬ 
dinate all issues to that of establishing a republican form 
of government. Cavour, however, realized the imprac¬ 
ticability of this plan when adapted to conditions then 
prevailing in Italy. His vision was to emancipate the 
country from foreign domination and to establish a nation¬ 
ality through the existing monarchy, renovated by con¬ 
stitutional liberty. And now that the censorship of the 
press was somewhat relaxed, Cavour established and be¬ 
came the chief editor of a daily newspaper, called “II 


168 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


Risorgimento”—The Resurrection. This paper, advocat¬ 
ing independence for Italy, union between the various 
Princes and the people, progressive reform and a Confed¬ 
eration of the Italian States, exerted a great influence on 
the course of events. 

The following year Cavour concentrated his efforts 
toward procuring from King Charles Albert a constitution 
for Piedmont—a kingdom superior to any other in Italy. 
At this time the move was considered revolutionary, and 
such audacious demands aroused the revolutionary world. 
Europe heard of Cavour; he had been praised as a master 
by thinkers and economists of Italy, but he was now uni¬ 
versally recognized as a statesman who hated despotism 
and who advocated open discussion rather than the con¬ 
spiracy which was then so prevalent throughout Italy. 

When the statute was granted, March fourth, 1848, it 
became a rallying point for all the advocates of Italian 
liberty and unity. It is still the foundation of the con¬ 
stitution of the Italian kingdom. Cavour was showing 
the first signs of leadership which proved so valuable to 
his country. 

In that same year the first Piedmontese Parliament 
was opened, and Cavour sat in it as a deputy of his na¬ 
tive city, Turin. In his maiden speech he urged the vig¬ 
orous prosecution of the war against the Holy Alliance, 
represented by Austria. He realized the importance of 
throwing off foreign oppression. The occasion was 
peculiarly favorable. An insurrection had risen in Vienna 
on February twenty-fourth from the news that Louis 
Philippe, of France, had been dethroned. Rumors came 
to Italy that the insurrection had caused the fall of Met- 
ternich. Venice rose against the Austrians, and pro¬ 
claimed a republic. Milan was equally successful in driv¬ 
ing out her oppressors, and public opinion, influenced 
largely by “II Risorgimento,” soon forced Charles Albert 


CAVOUR 


169 


to declare war on Austria. This unhappy king was a bet¬ 
ter ruler than soldier, and had been warned both by 
England and Russia against such a war. Although he 
won a victory at Goito, May thirtieth, 1848, he was de¬ 
serted by his allies, the Pope and the King of Naples, 
and was forced by defeat to retreat. The war finally 
ended in the fatal battle at Navara (March twenty-third, 
1849). Charles Albert abdicated the throne of Sardinia 
and retired in exile. He was succeeded by his son, Vic¬ 
tor Emmanuel, a born leader, who swore allegiance to 
the Constitution and won for himself the title of “The 
Honest King” by a life of devotion to Italian liberty. 

Cavour retired to his farm at Leri, but was recalled 
to his old seat in Victor Emmanuel’s second parliament. 
It was now for the first time that he made his real power 
felt in the chamber. It is difficult to realize the unde¬ 
veloped and chaotic condition of Italy at this time. There 
was hardly a mile of railroad south of Genoa, while north¬ 
ern Europe enjoyed an extensive railway system. At 
least fifty per cent, of the inhabitants could neither read 
nor write, and higher education was reduced to a mini¬ 
mum. Italy was separated into many petty despotic 
principalities. 

Cavour made a speech in Parliament proposing to abol¬ 
ish the special jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts, and 
stating that Piedmont, by preserving in her reform policy, 
would be “gathering to herself all the living forces in 
Italy, and would be in a position to lead the mother coun¬ 
try to those high destinies whereunto she is called.” The 
speech set forth an aggressive national policy for Italy 
and brought Cavour into even greater prominence. He 
was made Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, and 
gave up his work as a journalist to devote his entire time 
to statecraft. 

In the cabinet he negotiated favorable trade treaties 


170 


iWOKLD PATRIOTS 


with France, Belgium, and England. He was shortly 
given the additional appointment of Minister of the Ma¬ 
rine, and rapidly won his way to leadership in Parlia¬ 
ment. Within the year he was promoted to the office 
of Minister of Finance, and became the dominating force 
in the Ministry. He established factories, railways, 
steamship lines, and accomplished remarkable feats of 
political and commercial progress. 

The great statesman now made an alliance with Rat- 
tazzi, the leader of the moderate liberals, to unite the two 
parties in support of the Ministry against the opposition. 
Cavour proposed to foster the new Italy through this 
union of the moderate parties, but the compact was dis¬ 
countenanced by D’Azeglio, then the head of the Min¬ 
istry. This instantly led to a rupture in the Cabinet. 
Cavour resigned his offices and went to France and Eng¬ 
land to ascertain how his compact had been received by 
those two countries, to whom he was looking for assist¬ 
ance in overthrowing Austria’s power in the Italian pen¬ 
insula. He was greatly encouraged by his reception, 
especially in France, to which he particularly looked for 
aid against the Austrians. 

Upon his return to Piedmont another ministerial crisis 
occurred. Cavour was reinstated as Minister of Finance, 
and as President of the Council became the head of the 
government and of what is known in Italian history as 
the “Grand Ministero.” He continued to devote great 
energy to the material development of the country. He 
strengthened its finances and effected numerous reforms, 
such as the legalization of civil marriage and the encour¬ 
agement of secular education. 

In 1854, although opposed by the whole country with 
ifche exception of the King and his ministers, Cavour 
brought about an alliance with France and England 
against Austria. This brought the kingdom of Sardinia 


CAVOUR 


171 


into the councils of the European powers. He sent an 
army of 10,000 Sardinians to the Crimea to fight side 
by side with the French and English armies. Europe 
was inclined to laugh at the little Sardinian army and 
the fable of the frog and the ox was recalled in num¬ 
berless satires and cartoons. But when the small army 
unexpectedly gained a brilliant victory at Tchernaya, the 
effect was magical and the ridicule of Europe was turned 
to respect and admiration. The pride of all Italy was 
aroused as never before. Austria’s weak course greatly 
destroyed her dominant power in European affairs, and 
at the Congress of Paris, in 1856, Cavour succeeded in 
having Sardinia admitted to the councils of the repre¬ 
sentatives of the Powers, and in having them consider in¬ 
ternationally the condition of Italy. 

His accomplishment in that Congress of Paris was so 
far-reaching that it enabled him to speak to all Europe 
through the Congress. He made it more and more ap¬ 
parent to the powers that the condition of affairs in Italy 
was a menace to civilization, that every town in the pen¬ 
insula was a centre of fanaticism and that revolutions 
might burst forth at any moment to plague all of the coun¬ 
tries of Europe. Although Cavour gained nothing defi¬ 
nite for Sardinia at the Congress, he became universally 
recognized as an Italian leader. He was thinking and 
speaking of Italy, rather than of Sardinia. 

The issue between Sardinia and Austria now became 
radical. Cavour began to make his preparations for the 
inevitable war. He raised the taxes to gain increased 
revenue and rapidly developed the resources of the coun¬ 
try to meet the new burdens. It was about this time that 
certain Italian fanatics attempted to assassinate Napo¬ 
leon III by throwing a bomb under his carriage. This 
occasioned a decided check in the better feelings toward 
Italy and caused a bitter distrust of Italians throughout 


172 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


Europe. To offset this, Cavour had stringent laws against 
conspirators and assassins passed by the Piedmontese 
Parliament. The one thing which served powerfully to 
recover the confidence of Europe was the constant dis¬ 
tinction which Cavour drew between a rational evolution 
of freedom and a sudden spasmodic plunge into revolu¬ 
tion. He supported evolution rather than revolution. 

After the attempt on Napoleon’s life, Cavour held a 
secret conference with the French ruler at Plombieres, in 
France. It was agreed that France would aid Italy in 
her war with Austria. Cavour understood that it would 
be a disadvantage to appear as the aggressor, and so by a 
masterful stroke of diplomacy he forced Austria to de¬ 
clare war on Sardinia. Napoleon sought to have another 
congress, in the hope of preventing the war, and England 
suggested that all of the Italian States should he admitted 
to that congress. Austria would not agree to this and 
peremptorily demanded the disarmament of Sardinia. 
This offensive ultimatum, which was not agreed to by 
Cavour, caused Austria to declare war and also left no 
other course open to Napoleon, except to support his ally 
in the war. 

Cavour took up the onerous duties of Minister of War, 
while the War Minister, La Marmora, took command 
of the Sardinian forces. Everything progressed in 
Sardinia’s favor until Napoleon, without consulting or 
advising his ally, negotiated the Peace of Villafranca with 
Austria, abruptly abandoning the cause of Italy when it 
was on the verge of success. Upon receipt of this news 
“Cavour was overcome with grief and rage, and so keenly 
felt that the betrayal had disgraced him personally that 
he resigned his office and again retired to Leri. On the 
contrary, he became the idol of Italy. The people began 
to realize the depth of his patriotism and the farsighted¬ 
ness of his policy. The new Ministry, under Rattazzi, 


CAVOUR 


173 


proved unequal to the task and in 1860 Cavour was recalled 
to his post at the head of the government.” 

At their conference at Plombieres, Cavour had prom¬ 
ised Napoleon to cede Savoy and Nice to France. Na¬ 
poleon still had a large army in Lombardy and he let it 
be known that he would give his consent to the annexa¬ 
tion of the central states of Italy, only in return for Nice 
and Savoy. Cavour considered it absolutely essential for 
the union of Italy to annex the central States, and signed 
a secret treaty, giving the two provinces to France. This 
was one of the most difficult tasks of his life—an act for 
which he has been most generally criticized. Although 
Parliament, with a large majority, ratified his act, it was 
a none-the-less severe test of his power and popularity. The 
great Italian soldier, Garibaldi, who had been born in 
Nice, never forgave Cavour for the act. 

Naples and Sicily, in the southern part of Italy, were 
in a continual state of revolution, and when Sicily re¬ 
volted against the Bourbon government, Garibaldi con¬ 
ducted an expedition in aid of the Sicilian revolutionists 
and soon took both Sicily and Naples. Although Cavour 
had neither planned nor promoted either of these moves, 
he overlooked their irregularity and planned to treat 
diplomatically with the victorious force, whose leader had 
become a popular hero. He sent an army down into 
Umbria and the Marches of Ancona in order that Gari¬ 
baldi might not attempt to sweep north through the Papal 
territory. While this action was a direct defiance of the 
temporal power of the Pope, it was an inevitable step 
now that practically all of Italy desired to be united. 
Cavour’s army took Ancona and marched on into Nea¬ 
politan territory, delivering the last central provinces from 
Austrian influence. 

A dispute arose between the royal forces and those of 
Garibaldi, who had also been acting in Victor Emman- 


174 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


uel’s name. Cavour wrote to the King: “Garibaldi has 
become my most violent enemy, but I desire, for the good 
of Italy and the honor of your Majesty, that he should 
retire entirely satisfied.” Cavour well knew that Gari¬ 
baldi had never forgiven him for the sacrifice of Nice to 
France. There was a popular acclaim for Garibaldi’s ap¬ 
pointment as dictator of the territory he had conquered, 
but Cavour wisely suggested and influenced Parliament 
to pass a bill authorizing the annexation of any provinces 
in central and southern Italy which should express, by a 
plebiscite, their desire to become a part of the constitutional 
kingdom of Victor Emmanuel. There was great doubt 
as to whether this plan would be acceptable to Garibaldi. 
However, Garabaldi stated that if the people voted for 
annexation, they should have it, and an order was issued 
that “the two Sicilies form an integral part of Italy, one 
and invisible under the constitutional King, Victor Em¬ 
manuel, and his successors.” Garibaldi thus made the 
King a present of his conquest and displayed the depth of 
his unselfish patriotism. 

By the beginning of 1861 all Italy, except Venetia and 
Rome, was united. The work which Cavour had planned 
as a young man was almost accomplished. On February 
eighteenth the first Italian Parliament met in Turin. A 
few months later, Cavour, seeking to complete the historic 
Italy by having Rome its capital, secured the passage of 
a bill to that effect. But the great statesman did not live 
to see the consummation of his vision nor the annexation 
of Venetia, for which he had so longed. 

The tremendous amount of work he had done during 
the fifty-one years of his life now began to show its ef¬ 
fect upon his health. After a brief illness, he died on 
June sixth, 1861. No master of romance could have put 
more appropriate words into the mouth of a dying hero 
than those actually uttered by Count Cavour: “Italy is 


CAVOUR 


175 


made; all is safe.” To the friar who administered to him 
during his last hours, Cavour whispered: “Brother, 
brother, a free church in a free State.” When the great 
patriot died, his life work had practically been brought 
to a happy fruition. Italy was free and united; Victor 
Emmanuel had been accepted as the constitutional King 
of the entire nation; Rome had been proclaimed the capital 
of Italy. 

Cavour died as he had lived—a splendid man and a 
true patriot. His great service was to guide into the right 
channel the flood of patriotism and heroism that was 
sweeping Italy—to restrain it from excess and misdirec¬ 
tion. He alone realized that in order to politically create 
a nation, public opinion in general and the statesmen who 
directed the destinies of Europe, must he won over to the 
cause of Italy. He knew the necessity of convincing 
them that it was no anarchical revolution, but the inevi¬ 
table development of the sentiment of nationality in a 
people whose history and traditions alike entitled them to 
shape their own destiny and take their place once more 
among the great powers. 

Cavour did not belong to that class of politicians whose 
love of country is subservient to self-interest and whose 
objects are confined to flattering popular passions and 
prejudices. He never let the fear of decreasing his popu¬ 
larity deter him from performing what he considered to 
be his duty, and he repeatedly threw himself against the 
prevailing current of opinion when he deemed it harmful 
to the national cause. 

Metternich once remarked: “There is only one diplo¬ 
mat in Europe, hut unfortunately he is against us; it is 
M. de Cavour.” Napoleon III told Cavour during their 
conference at Plombieres: “There are only three men in 
Europe—we two and then a third whom I will not name.” 
Cavour deserved the high esteem of the powers of Europe. 


176 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


He possessed a superb brain, a brilliant imagination, a 
tireless will-power, indeed many qualities that made him 
of the rare type of Napoleon Bonaparte. Yet they were 
combined with an honesty of purpose, an absence of per¬ 
sonal ambition, and a capacity of patience, all unknown to 
“The Little Corporal.” 

“He was the master mind who moulded Italy’s scat¬ 
tered members into one whole; he was the great architect 
who erected the splendid temple of Italian national unity, 
founded on the cornerstone of constitutional liberty.” 
Cavour achieved the work which the longings of an en¬ 
slaved people and the heroic efforts of centuries had been 
unable to accomplish. He was loyally supported by the 
enlightened patriotism and bravery of Victor Emmanuel, 
the opportune friendship of Napoleon III, the incredible 
leadership and soldiership of Garibaldi, the energy of the 
Italian people and the sympathy of the civilized nations 
of the world. With their invaluable aid and by the bold¬ 
ness of his genius and the wisdom of his patriotism, he 
counteracted the deadly effects of the Congress of Vienna. 
Mazzini had breathed new hope into Italy; Victor Em¬ 
manuel had proved a noble leader to the cause; Garibaldi 
had fought and conquered; Cavour fused all these efforts 
toward a single goal—the freedom and the union of Italy. 


























' 












- 












































PETER THE GREAT 















PETER THE GREAT 


RUSSIANS MASTERFUL MAN 


1672-1725 



HE recent democratization of Russia places her in 


the limelight of the world. She is now in a crucible; 


all eyes are upon her tragic past and her critical 
present; all minds are speculating upon her uncertain 
future. They are looking for the “great man” which this 
great hour demands; the man who is to be a Washington 
and build a strong and enduring republic upon the foun¬ 
dation-stone laid when the young Minister of War Ker¬ 
ensky, in March, 1917, rose in the Duma and said, in 
answer to the Czar’s demand that the body be dissolved, 
“We will not go, we will stay here.” 

Russia’s dramatic entrance into the democracies of the 
world, practically without the shedding of blood, marks 
an epoch in history. In friendly recognition of that mo¬ 
mentous event, the United States sent a commission of 
American diplomats to welcome her as a sister republic, 
to extend to her the nation’s congratulations and to proff er 
any available assistance in stabilizing her place on the 
roll of democracies. The commission was headed by 
Elihu Root, former Secretary of State. The speeches of 
Secretary Root and Ambassador David R. Francis, made 
before the Duma, eloquently voiced our nation’s reason 
for becoming one of her allies in the “great struggle to 
make democracy safe in the world.” 

Russia’s potential wealth is greater than that of any 
other nation, but it is undeveloped and unutilized. It is 
like the crude ore of an inexhaustible mine, unavailable 


( 177 ) 


178 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


until dug out and marketed. The vastness of the new re¬ 
public is appalling. Over eight and a half million square 
miles, one-sixth of the total land area of the earth, twice 
the area of all the rest of Europe, and nearly three times 
that of the United States is encompassed within the un¬ 
broken boundary line of this mighty empire. 

Paul 1ST. MiliukofF, a young Russian who came to the 
United States to study, first at Chicago University and 
later at Harvard, caught the American spirit of freedom 
and equality and became obsessed with the vision of an 
enlightened Russia. He returned to his country with the 
purpose of freeing her from the tyranny of autocracy, 
and of inaugurating a public school system, as 80 per 
cent, of her one hundred and eighty million people can¬ 
not read or write. Should his plan be actualized, Rus¬ 
sia will become earth’s most promising field for achieve¬ 
ment. This region of untold natural resources will be¬ 
come immediately the most inviting opening the world 
has to offer the ambitious youth, whether his aspirations 
be in the domain of agriculture, commerce, politics or edu¬ 
cation. 

More than to any other single individual the present 
and the coming generations are indebted to Peter the 
Great for the foundation that made possible these aus¬ 
picious Russian opportunities of today and tomorrow. 

In the thirteenth century Europe was threatened with 
devastation by the mighty wave of Tartar invasion that 
poured down from the highlands of Asia across the vast 
plains of China, Persia and Russia, finally spending itself 
on the borders of Germany. These barbaric hordes left 
in their wake depopulated cities and deserted plains. The 
rising power of Russia was crushed at a blow, and for 
two hundred and fifty years her princes paid tribute to 
the great Tartar Khans. During this period she lost her 
identity as a European nation and became an Asiatic de- 


PETER THE GREAT 


179 


pendency, oriental in dress, oriental in social customs, 
oriental in form of government and oriental in thought. 
Her rulers were despots and her national character was 
indelibly stamped with the remains of Tartar cruelty and 
barbarism. She faced the East, and was ignorant of the 
West. Things went from bad to worse until the latter 
part of the seventeenth century when there arose the 
monumental patriot who turned the face of this huge na¬ 
tion toward the civilization of the West. 

Peter I, the son of Czar Alexis, was born in Moscow, 
June 11, 1672. He was the embodiment of the Russian 
characteristics of his age. Waliszewski says: “Never 
have the collective qualities of a nation, good and bad, 
been so summed up in a single personality, destined to be 
its historic type . . . Peter is Russia—her flesh and 

blood, her temperament, her virtues and her vices.” 

The forces with which he had to deal are shown in the 
turbulent years of intrigue and bloodshed preceding his 
accession to the throne. When he was four years old, his 
half-brother Feodor succeeded his father and ruled for 
six years. Feodor, upon his deathbed, designated Peter 
to succeed him instead of his own brother, Ivan, who was 
really entitled to the throne. Ivan’s sister, Sophia, how¬ 
ever, had designs of gaining power herself by the suc¬ 
cession of feeble-minded Ivan. She, therefore, managed 
to circulate a story to the effect that Feodor had been 
poisoned by certain nobles who wished to gain control of 
the government through the young boy Peter. This story 
caused a horrible revolution in which Peter and his mother 
narrowly escaped death at the hands of the wild soldiery. 
The revolution was finally ended by the crowning of Ivan 
and Peter as joint rulers, with Sophia as regent. Ivan 
only lived until 1691 and during his few years was weak 
in mind as well as in body and made no effort to take part 
in the government, leaving everything to Peter, 


180 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


The Regent Sophia, having the reins of the government 
securely in her hands, surrounded the youthful Peter with 
the worst possible influences, exposed him to every tempta¬ 
tion and placed around him the most depraved and licen¬ 
tious associates, hoping to ruin his character and health, 
and render him unfit to take an active part as ruler. 

Peter’s mother hoped that through marriage he would 
be led into a better life and in 1689, when seventeen years 
old, she persuaded him to marry a young girl, who be¬ 
longed to a powerful family. By this alliance, he was 
enabled openly to oppose his half-sister. Within a year 
he succeeded in wresting all power from her and confined 
her in a convent, where she spent the remainder of her 
days. His marriage, though politically helpful, was un¬ 
happy and the young couple separated within two years. 
The moment that he ascended the throne, though only a 
youth, Peter seems to have thoroughly understood the 
position of his empire. Previous Czars had issued edicts 
forbidding their subjects to leave the empire; Peter recog¬ 
nized the fact that they could not get out with or without 
permission. Both of the natural gates of Russia were 
locked upon them and the keys were in the hands of their 
enemies. He determined that his great inland empire, 
whose inhabitants had never seen nor heard of the ocean, 
should have an outlet through the seas and become a mari¬ 
time power, and thus have a base for becoming a world 
power. There is nothing that indicates the true instinct 
of his genius more clearly than the constancy with which 
he cultivated a love of maritime affairs. Peter made him¬ 
self a practical sailor. He realized that without seaports, 
Russia could never be redeemed from barbarism. There¬ 
fore he formed the plan of wresting the Baltic from the 
Swedes and the Euxine from the Turks. This was an 
immense undertaking, for Sweden and Turkey were at 
the height of their power. 


PETER THE GREAT 


181 


Peter attached to himself two men, Lafort and Menzi- 
koff, who were destined to play important parts in his 
life. Lafort was a young Swiss adventurer who had been 
educated abroad and had seen much of the world. Russia 
is greatly indebted to him for the first impulse towards 
western civilization and ideals. It was he who first planted 
the seeds in the fertile but fallow mind of the Czar; it was 
getic influence of Lafort, Peter organized a regiment of 
soldiers upon the European plan, which was to be the germ 
of the reformed army which he contemplated. He ap¬ 
pointed Lafort colonel of the regiment and entered him¬ 
self as a drummer so that he might be promoted by merit, 
as he required others to be. It was Lafort who discovered 
the celebrated MenzikofF, peddling cakes and pies on the 
streets of Moscow, and presented him to the Czar, who im¬ 
mediately appointed him a court page and later pushed 
him forward until he finally became a prince of the empire, 
general, governor and regent. 

In 1695, Peter sailed down the river Don and struck 
his first blow at Azof. This campaign against the Turks 
was unsuccessful at the beginning, chiefly on account of 
the treachery of a trusted artillery officer. Peter, how¬ 
ever, possessed the happy faculty of never knowing when 
he was defeated and renewed the attack. During the 
next year he succeeded in capturing the city. Upon his 
triumphant return to Moscow, then the capital of Russia, 
he levied large taxes upon the nobility and clergy to build 
and sustain a fleet upon the waters he had taken. With 
a single blow he humbled the savage Tartars of Crimea, 
who for centuries had harassed Russia and had extracted 
large tributes from her. 

Now that he had secured a seaport, he took another step 
toward the establishment of Russia as a sea power. He 
not only sent a number of prominent young Russians into 
Holland, Italy and Germany to study the arts of civilized 


182 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


life, but he personally set a noble example to his subjects 
by going to Holland to perfect himself in the arts, and 
especially to acquire a thorough and practical knowledge 
of maritime affairs. 

Early in 1697, he appointed an embassy to visit his 
neighbors on the west—Sweden, Prussia and Holland, 
composed of Lafort, Menzikoff and two others as pleni¬ 
potentiaries, and himself incognito as a minor attache. 
In Prussia he left the embassy and hastened to Holland, 
where he established himself as a journeyman in the dock¬ 
yard of Mynheer Calf. Within a comparatively brief 
time, Peter became an accomplished shipbuilder, and made 
considerable progress in the study of civil engineering, 
mathematics and the science of fortifications. He not 
only mastered the Dutch language, but also acquired the 
miscellaneous accomplishments of tooth-drawing, blood¬ 
letting and tapping for dropsy. He inspected factories 
and studied industries of all kinds; and this was done with¬ 
in the space of nine months when he was twenty-five years 
old. 

On leaving Holland, he visited England for the purpose 
of examining her navy yards, dock yards and maritime 
establishments, and to acquire some practical knowledge 
of English naval architecture. After spending some 
months there, he engaged a number of scientists and spe¬ 
cialists to accompany him to Russia, where he employed 
them in various works of internal improvement. 

While on his way home, Peter received news of an in¬ 
surrection in Moscow, which caused him to hasten hack to 
his capital. He found that the Strelitzes, corresponding 
to our national guard or militia, having been instigated 
to revolt by the Princess Sophia, had been defeated by 
his general, Patrick Gordon. The Czar ordered the leaders 
of the insurrection to be imprisoned, and many of them 
beheaded. It is said that he himself executed some of these 
rebels. 


PETER THE GREAT 


183 


The Czar of Moscovy now sought to improve his country 
by transplanting the civilization of the older countries of 
western Europe. He endeavored to change the oriental 
customs of his people. He decreed that his subjects, with 
the exception of the clergy and a few especially favored 
ones, should either shave off their beards or pay an annual 
tax for the privilege of wearing them. As many chose 
to pay an enormous tax rather than to part with their 
sacred beards, it later became necessary to issue further 
decrees, increasing the tax, and finally compelling every 
man to shave. He issued an edict commanding all cour¬ 
tiers and officials to wear nothing but foreign-cut clothing. 
Peter himself cut off many of the long sleeves of his 
officers, saying: “See, these things are in your way! You 
are safe nowhere with them. At one moment you upset 
a glass, then you forgetfully dip them in the sauce; get 
gaiters made of them.” Decrees were likewise issued 
against the use of the high Russian boots, Russian saddles 
and long Russian knives. 

Peter doubtless went too far in such radical changes, 
for there is no great connection between costume and 
civilization; but he doubtless felt that when his people 
had once broken the customs and traditions of their an¬ 
cestors regarding the unimportant matter of dress, it 
would be easier to make them break those traditions in re¬ 
gard to ideas of life, education and government. 

He changed the beginning of the Russian year from 
September first to January first, and began reckoning 
time from the birth of Christ. He reorganized the mone¬ 
tary system of the nation, instituted assemblies for the 
encouragement of social intercourse between men and 
women, established libraries and galleries of art and intro¬ 
duced many other modern reforms. 

The year 1700 is memorable in the history of Russia 
as the beginning of Peter’s long and desperate effort to 


184 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


gain the supremacy of the North. In an attempt to mobil¬ 
ize his full strength in a war against Sweden and thereby 
gain for Russia her proper place on the Baltic, he nego¬ 
tiated peace with Turkey in June, 1700. He was then 
free to make an alliance with Denmark and Poland and 
attack the young Charles XII of Sweden. This was the 
beginning of a war which lasted for twenty-one years. 
Peter was the only ruler of the allies to survive the war, 
and Russia was the only country to gain by it. 

But the undisciplined Russian forces, although greatly 
superior in numbers, were signally defeated at the battle of 
Narva, November 30, 1700, by the veteran Swedish sol¬ 
diers. Gustavus Adolphus, Sweden’s national hero, had 
been dead sixty-eight years, when this great battle was 
fought, but his spirit dominated the veterans who fought 
desperately and victoriously, as they shouted: “We come 
in the name of Adolphus the Great.” 

This defeat, however, did not dishearten Peter, for while 
the Swedes were fighting in Poland, three years later, he 
seized a portion of Ingria, where he laid, May 27th, 1703, 
the foundation of his new capital, St. Petersburg, now 
called Petrograd. This city at last gave Russia a port 
on the Baltic. 

After Peter had almost annihilated Charles’ army at 
the decisive battle of Poltava, Sweden was able to enlist 
Turkey as her ally. The campaign against Turkey which 
followed was almost fatal to Peter’s cause, for by it he 
lost the Black Sea forts and Azof, which he had gained 
by the expedition fifteen years before. Finally, in 1721, 
the war ended and the Peace of Nystad was concluded. 
Peter declared this to be the most profitable peace which 
Russia had ever made. The gain to Russia was more than 
territorial, for Sweden not only surrendered the last of her 
Baltic provinces, but the dominant power of the North. 

On October 22, 1721, the official birthday of the Rus- 


PETER THE GREAT 


185 


sian Empire, with thanksgiving services for the Peace of 
Nystad, the Czar was proclaimed in the senate to he the 
“Father of the Fatherland, Peter the Great and Emperor 
of all Russia.” There were some who preferred that 
Peter be proclaimed “Emperor of the East,” but he in¬ 
sisted upon the more patriotic title of “Emperor of All 
Russia.” Russia was no longer looking to the East. 

During the twenty-one years of the war, the nation 
had been constantly progressing internally. New insti¬ 
tutions on western models gradually grew up; new men 
were being trained by the great regenerator to help him 
carry on his herculean task. The Great Northern Way, 
as it was called, was, primarily, a means of developing its 
material resources. 

During the war, in 1712, at the age of forty, Peter 
was married to Catherine, who was afterwards crowned 
Empress of Russia. She was from the peasant class and 
could not read or write; but she was able to share Peter’s 
pleasures and sorrows, to enter into his plans and to sym¬ 
pathize with his ambitions. She was able to cheer and com¬ 
fort him and to help him overcome his sudden attacks of 
nervousness. 

During the war, 1718, a widespread conspiracy was dis¬ 
covered. The purpose of the plot was to undermine 
Peter’s reforms, but was promoted under the pretence 
of favoring his son, Alexis, a dissipated, indolent youth, 
who had caused his father continuous trouble and worry. 
The conspirators, including the Czar’s son, were sentenced 
to death, but Alexis was taken ill in prison and died, after 
having been pardoned by his father. It must be remem¬ 
bered that Peter the Great was a despot, an absolute mon¬ 
arch. His lack of regard for human life was a trait com¬ 
mon to his predecessors and to his countrymen, and the 
civilization of Russia had to grow for many years before 
all inhuman acts were to cease. 


186 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


During the last four years of his reign his policy was 
chiefly oriental. As he had gained all that he desired in 
Europe, he turned to Persia, and during the years 1722 
and 1723 waged a victorious war, which gained consider¬ 
able territory for Russia. 

In 1724 he set aside with characteristic arbitrariness the 
law by which the Czar’s son succeeded to the throne, and 
crowned his wife Empress^, stating that he wished the Em¬ 
press to be his heir to the throne. He did not long sur¬ 
vive this, for the Persian campaign had affected his feeble 
health. He died in the arms of the Empress on January 
28, 1725, at the age of 53. 

Peter’s greatness lies largely in the recognition of his 
nation’s needs and of his own obligations as its ruler to 
regenerate his country. His task would have been con¬ 
siderably easier if he had placed foreigners at the head of 
every department of the government and had allowed 
them graudually to train up a native bureaucracy, but he 
was patriotically determined that Russia should be ruled 
by Russians; he believed in the policy of Russianization 
of all the elements and races of the nation. Before his 
death, he had the satisfaction of witnessing every impor¬ 
tant office in the empire in the hands of capable and ef¬ 
ficient Russians of his own training. 

Peter the Great’s character exhibits a strange mixture 
of opposing qualities. He was cruel and tender at inter¬ 
vals, yet never weak. At heart he was profoundly re¬ 
ligious, having a firm persuasion that he was an instru¬ 
ment for good in the hand of God, yet he was indifferent 
to the educational and moral training of his subjects. He 
wrought mightily for the material upbuilding of his peo¬ 
ple, but was heedlessly neglectful of their spiritual ad¬ 
vancement. Neither by precept nor example did he set 
before them the ideal character of man nor the noblest 
order of life. 


PETER THE GREAT 


187 


He found Russia many fathoms deep in the chaos of 
barbarism and wrought out her civilization. He added 
six important provinces to his dominions, he gave her an 
outlet upon two seas, he established a regular trained 
army, he initiated a maritime fleet and a naval academy, he 
established libraries, galleries of sculpture and art, he 
founded and named the present capital—all this, yet by 
failing to recognize that the real foundation of a nation 
must be on the moral character of her people, he failed to 
reach the full height of greatness. Peter was cast in that 
mighty mold of patriotism that is characteristic of heroes 
of his time. In his great physical energy and capacity for 
work, in his unshakable convictions, in his iron will he 
stands as one of the distinguished figures of history. 

This strange colossal hero founded a nation which Has 
grown into the largest in population, the largest in area, 
the largest in resources of all the republics. He left Rus¬ 
sia as his monument, which will, in the light of Her new 
democracy, go on to greater achievements. 









MIGUEL HIDALGO, 

The “ Patriarch of Mexican Independence.” 








MIGUEL HIDALGO Y COSTILLA 


FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY AND FOUNDER OF THE MEXICAN 
NATION 
1753-1811 

T HE opening of the year 1800 saw the viceroyalty 
of Yew Spain at its greatest extent. Politically it 
included all of Spain’s possessions in North Ameri¬ 
ca, Central America, the West Indies, and the Philippines. 
Moreover, in addition to this remarkable and unprece¬ 
dented establishment of empire, Spain had other accom¬ 
plishments to her credit and honor in North America by 
1800. Elaborate and highly efficient administrative, ju¬ 
dicial, and defense systems had been developed, and these, 
at least from the standpoint of Spain’s interests, had stood 
the test of time for over two and one-half centuries. Upon 
an indigenous population of from six to nine million souls 
in North America Spain had left indelibly the impress of 
her language, religion, culture, laws, and institutions. To¬ 
day, at least 20,000,000 people north of Panama speak 
the Spanish language, have been influenced by the gen¬ 
tility of Old Spain, still worship at the altars set up by 
Isabella the Catholic and Philip II, and are governed by 
laws that are basicly Spanish. No other nation, unless 
it were Rome, has left a greater impress upon subject 
peoples than Spain. 

At the head of the vast political entity, known as New 


In the writing of this chapter, the author had the collaboration of 
Dr. Charles W. Hackett, Associate Professor of Latin-American His¬ 
tory in the University of Texas. See note 1 to the Chapter on Simon 
Bolivar. 

(189) 



190 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


Spam, stood the Viceroy and Captain-General. Through¬ 
out the length and breadth of the viceroyalty he was at 
all times and under all circumstances the personal repre¬ 
sentative of his majesty—the Catholic King of Spain. 
As such, he exercised in times of great danger immediate 
and original authority throughout the entire viceroyalty. 
Over the subdivisions of the viceroyalty, in normal times, 
he exercised only supervisory authority, whether military 
or administrative. The viceroy was also governor of terri¬ 
tory contiguous to the City of Mexico, and exercised im¬ 
mediate administrative and military jurisdiction in it. 
Hence the title of every Viceroy of New Spain was: “Vice¬ 
roy, Governor, and Captain-General.” In co-operation 
with the Viceroy in administrative matters was a body 
known as an Audiencia. Its prime duties were judicial, 
but in addition it served the Viceroy, in an advisory capac¬ 
ity, as a viceregal council. On the other hand the Viceroy, 
without any vote in judicial matters, was president of the 
Audiencia. In this way the Viceroy and the Audiencia 
served as a check and balance, the one upon the other. 

Finally the Viceroy stood at the head of the ecclesiastical 
organization in New Spain. As vice-patron of the Church, 
he made recommendations to the Council of the Indies in 
Spain for all ecclesiastical appointments and preferments 
in New Spain. The Holy Office of the Inquisition was 
likewise under the supervision of the Viceroy. 

The principal sub-divisions of the viceroyalty of New 
Spain in 1800 were the Captaincy-General of Guatemala; 
the Captaincy-General of Havana (formerly of Santo 
Domingo) ; the Commandancy-General of the Provincias 
Internas; the Presidency of Guadalajara; and the dis¬ 
trict, with Mexico City as its center, which was under the 
immediate jurisdiction of the Viceroy, acting as Governor 
and Captain-General. The captaincies-^eneral were in 
effect viceroyalties on a small scale. Theoretically, as 


MIGUEL HIDALGO 


191 


noted above, the Viceroy was empowered to exercise im¬ 
mediate authority therein. In practice the Captains-Gen- 
eral were virtually independent of viceregal interference. 

The Captaincy-General of Guatemala in 1800 included 
the present Mexican state of Chiapas and all of Central 
America except present Panama. The Captaincy-Gen¬ 
eral of Havana included the West Indian possessions of 
Spain, Florida, and Western or Spanish Louisiana. Co¬ 
operating with the respective captains-general and func¬ 
tioning in every other respect as the Audiencia of Mexico, 
were the Audiencias of Guatemala and Havana. 

The Commandancy-General of the Provincias Internas, 
which included the northern provinces of Nueva Vizcaya, 
Sinaloa, Sonora, Coahuila, New Mexico, and Texas, was 
in effect a military viceroyalty. It had been created in 
1776 , and at its head was a Commandant General with 
military and political authority. He was directly re¬ 
sponsible to the king, and was practically independent of 
the Viceroy, who exercised over him only advisory authori¬ 
ty. The capital of the Provincias Internas in 1800 was 
Chihuahua. 

The Presidency of Guadalajara, as a political entity, in¬ 
cluded only the province of Nueva Galicia. The head of 
its administration was the Audiencia of Guadalajara, the 
chief member of which was a president. In addition to 
functioning as an administrative council for the province 
of Nueva Galicia, however, the Audiencia of Guadalajara 
had judicial jurisdiction not only in the above province, 
but in the other adjacent provinces and throughout the 
entire Commandancy-General of the Provincias Internas. 

All of the territory not included in the above-mentioned 
subdivisions of New Spain, was under the immediate 
jurisdiction of the Viceroy. In turn, each of the vice¬ 
regal subdivisions was divided into provinces, corregimien- 
tos, or alcaldias mayores, at the head of which were gov- 


192 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


ernors, corregidores, and alcaldes mayores, respectively. 
Each of these was appointed directly by the Viceroy or 
by the King. Thus, in theory, did the direct authority of 
the Crown reach to the most remote subdivision of the 
viceroyalty of New Spain. 

The Catholic Kings of Spain were not content solely 
with the acquisition of empire, the exploitation of resour¬ 
ces, and the evolution of a viceregal government, im¬ 
perial in extent and character. From the outset, as noted 
in the chapter on Simon Bolivar, the Crown of Spain took 
the deepest interest in the subject races of America. These 
were regarded as the wards of the Crown, whose duty it 
was to protect, uplift, and teach them the Holy Catholic 
Faith. For this purpose there had been devised as early 
as 1503 the encomienda system, which, in its inception, was 
blameless and benevolent in character. Indians living up¬ 
on feudal land grants, known as repartimientos, were as¬ 
signed in trust, or, in encomienda, to trustees, or encomen- 
deros, who were charged with the duty of protecting the 
Indians and of providing for their cultural and religious 
up-lift. In return the encomendero was authorized to ex¬ 
ploit their services. As definitely established, the encomi¬ 
enda system was marked by the reduction of the Indians 
to village life, in order that their conversion and their 
education might he more easily effected. In 1584, accord¬ 
ing to Lopez de Velasco, royal geographer, there were in 
Spanish America 9,000 Indian towns, containing 5,000,000 
souls, in encomienda to the king and to some 4,000 en- 
comenderos. 

But while the encomienda system was benevolent by in¬ 
tention it was abused, and resulted in the practical enslave¬ 
ment of the Indians. The vigorous protests of such hu¬ 
manitarians as Las Casas, caused steps to be taken, as 
early as 1542, aiming at the correction of abuses and the 
limiting and ultimate abolition of the system. It was not 


MIGUEL HIDALGO 


193 


until the eighteenth century, however, that the system was 
finally abolished. Gradually, as this was accomplished, 
two other agents of the Crown took the places of the en- 
comendero. These were the missionary on the Northern 
frontier—in reality joint agent of Church and State— 
and the corregidor in the older and more settled communi¬ 
ties. The former was more solicitous of the welfare of 
the Indians than the latter, who too often desired in the 
three to five year tenure of his office to reap only material 
gain therefrom. On the whole the theoretical policy of no 
other nation in dealing with its subject races was ever as 
benevolent as that of Spain; no other was ever so abused 
in practice. 

Finally, the highest type of the culture of Old Spain 
had taken deep roots, if it had not been generally diffused 
in New Spain. There poetry, music, art, and architecture 
kept pace with, and in many respects excelled, the 
achievements of the rest of Europe during the colonial 
period. The first book printed in America was issued 
from the press in Mexico City in 1539. The first teacher 
of European music in America, Pedro de Gante, began 
his work in Mexico City in 1523. Great were the fruits of 
his labors, for even in the frontier province of New Mexi¬ 
co.) organs were used and Gregorian music chanted in 
the churches as early as 1603, 110 years before the first 
organ was used in the Anglo American colonies. The first 
University on the continent of North America was the 
Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico. It was 
founded by decree of Charles V in 1553, eighty-four years 
before Harvard University was founded, and had a con¬ 
tinuous existence until after the beginning of the Mexican 
national period. With reference to the institutions of 
learning founded in New Spain in the sixteenth century, 
Bourne says that “in number, range of studies, and stand¬ 
ard of attainments by the officers they surpassed any- 


194 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


thing existing in English America until the nineteenth cen¬ 
tury.” Henry Clay, the original North American Pan- 
Americanist, speaking in the United States House of 
Representatives, in 1818, of the Latin-American said: “In 
astronomy, geology, mineralogy, chemistry, botany—they 
make distinguished proficiency—They have nine univer¬ 
sities, and in the City of Mexico it is affirmed by Hum¬ 
boldt that there are more scientific establishments than in 
any other city in North America.” 

Such was New Spain on the eve of momentous changes 
which began before the close of the year 1800. For seven¬ 
teen years the boundary between the United States and 
Spain in North America had extended from St. Augustine, 
Florida, westward to the Mississippi River, and thence up 
that stream to its source. By 1800 the growth and vigor 
of the United States were such that it was almost inevi¬ 
table that the Spanish frontier should in time recede before 
the power of the rising young colossus with its face de¬ 
terminedly set to the West. But while this was true, the 
first backward movement of Spain in North America after 
1783 was caused by European rather than by American 
politics. 

In the closing years of the eighteenth century, unfortu¬ 
nate Spain had been dragged, politically at the heels, first 
of France, and then of Napoleon. In 1800, Napoleon 
forced Spain to recede to him Western Louisiana. Three 
years later, Napoleon’s dream of refounding the French 
colonial empire having come to naught, Louisiana was 
sold to the United States for a mere bagatelle, for the 
prime purpose of preventing it from falling by conquest 
into the hands of England—his arch enemy, and in the 
end his nemesis. Thus within the space of three short 
years from 1800 to 1803, the Spanish-American frontier 
receded, and the Anglo-American frontier advanced, from 
the Mississippi River almost half-way to the Rio Grande. 


MIGUEL HIDALGO 


195 


Close upon the loss of Louisiana and the consequent 
recession of her colonial frontier in North America, Spain 
became involved in European complications that provided 
the occasion, if not the inspiration, for the independence 
of her possessions in continental North America. As noted 
in the chapter on Simon Bolivar, Napoleon Bonaparte in 
1808 deposed the lawful king of Spain, Ferdinand VII, 
and imposed upon the Spanish people as their king his 
brother, Joseph. The unparalleled flood of indignation 
and national resentment which swept over Spain found 
expression in a merciless and fierce guerrilla warfare a- 
gainst the French in the organization of local juntas for 
the purpose of keeping burning the home fires of patri¬ 
otism. Finally a Central Junta was organized at Cadiz 
which in 1810 created a Regency to rule, in the name of 
Ferdinand VII, over Spain and the colonies. 

The course of events in Europe profoundly stirred the 
inhabitants of New Spain, where Spain’s policy, had been 
applied in all its details. There the Creole colonials had 
the same grievances against the mother country, because 
of the political, economic, and social privileges that were 
enjoyed exclusively by the Gachupines, as had stirred Si¬ 
mon Bolivar to action. In 1808 news arrived that Spain 
had been over-run by French troops and that Joseph Bo¬ 
naparte had been forced upon the Spaniards as their king, 
a small ambitious Creole minority in New Spain, as was 
the case in Venezuela, saw their opportunity to attain 
some measure of deferred reform. Led by the Ayunta- 
miento of Mexico City—the Ayuntamiento there, as else¬ 
where in Spanish America, being the only instrument of 
colonial self-government—demands were made by the Cre¬ 
oles for a share in the government of the viceroyalty. In 
making these demands the Creoles took the position that 
when Ferdinand VII was deposed sovereignty re¬ 
verted to the people, and, therefore, that they had a right 


196 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


to a share in the government. For selfish reasons, inspired 
largely by his own personal ambitions, even Viceroy Itur- 
rigaray lent an ear to the suggestions of the ambitious few. 
But to the Gachupin majority, in control at Mexico City, 
the suggestion of the Creoles seemed nothing short of 
rank political heresy. “The audiencia and the viceroy will 
not hesitate to call upon you when your help is needed,” 
was the curt reply given to the Creoles. Thoroughly a- 
larmed, however, at the audacity of the latter, and jealous 
in the extreme of their own position and of their many 
privileges, the Gachupines, as a safety measure, finally 
deposed the distrusted Iturrigaray, and named as viceroy, 
ad interim, one of their own number, Pedor de Garibay. 

The next year the Gachupines servilely acknowledged 
the authority over New Spain of the Central Junta in 
Spain and accepted as Viceroy, Lizana y Beaumont, who 
was named by the latter body to rule over them. An abor¬ 
tive movement begun at Valladolid during his brief reign, 
having as its object the calling of a Congress to govern 
New Spain in the name of Ferdinand VII, in case Spain 
should entirely succumb to the French, was easily sup¬ 
pressed, and in September, 1810, a typical Gachupin Vice¬ 
roy, Francisco Xavier Venegas, arrived in Mexico as the 
appointee of the new self-constituted Cadiz Regency in 
Spain. The hold of privileged autocracy on Spain’s fair¬ 
est viceroyalty never appeared stronger than at the time 
of the arrival of Viceroy Venegas. 

While the jealous Gachupin and the ambitious Creole 
were quarreling in Mexico City over the question of 
whether or not the centuries old privileges of the former 
should, in the face of European developments, be extended 
to the latter, another political and social movement was 
developing in New Spain under the leadership of Father 
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. This latter movement had 
as its object the extension of human rights and privileges 


MIGUEL HIDALGO 


197 


to the mass of Indians and Mexicans of mixed blood, 
whose claim to such privileges had never been conceded 
by either the Gachupin or the Creole. Strange as it may 
seem, such a suggestion was even more unthinkable to the 
Creoles than the proposal that the Creoles should be grant¬ 
ed political, economic, and social liberties had been to the 
Gachupines. However, it was this movement initiated by 
Hidalgo, although it was opposed for ten years by both 
the Gachupin and the high Creole, that finally triumphed 
in the independence of all three classes alike. 

The struggle for independence in New Spain presents 
some striking contrasts to the struggle for independence 
in the rest of Spanish America. In New Spain there was 
no Apostle of Independence to the abused Creoles, as 
Miranda; nor was there a militantly determined Bolivar 
to arouse and re-arouse his fellow Creoles to fight for in¬ 
dependence. On the contrary, the initiation of the move¬ 
ment for independence in New Spain was the achievement 
of one man—Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. He did 
not, as Miranda and Bolivar, call upon the ambitious 
Creoles to strike for their rights. With the Iturrigaray 
plan of 1808 and the Creole separatist fiasco in his beloved 
Valladolid, in 1809, Father Hidalgo had not the slightest 
connection. Rather he essayed to arouse the down-trodden 
native Indian to strike for human freedom against the 
proud Creole and the prouder Gachupin alike. In doing 
this, Father Hidalgo made two great contributions to hu¬ 
man liberty; he initiated the movement that culminated in 
the independence of Mexico, and also the movement for 
the uplift of the oppressed majority of the Mexican peo¬ 
ple—a movement that is still in progress 118 years after 
his death. 

Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla was horn near Penjamo, in 
the province of Guanajuato, on May 8,1758. His parents 
were of respectable and well-to-do Creole stock; his 


198 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


mother’s family had come to New Spain some generations 
earlier from the province of Bizcaya in Spain, and his 
father was a descendant of the lesser Spanish nobility. 
The early youth of Miguel was spent on an hacienda, near 
Penjamo, of which his father was manager. There, amid 
agricultural pursuits, in a region renowned for its fertility 
and its healthful and delightful climate, young Miguel re¬ 
ceived his early education. 

At the age of fourteen, Miguel was sent by his father to 
study in the College of San Nicolas Obispo in the not dis¬ 
tant city of Valladolid (present Morelia), capital of the 
province of Michoacan, and the cultural center of a still 
larger district. There Miguel early distinguished himself 
in the study of philosophy and theology, at that time the 
most popular subjects in all colleges. After three years 
of study at Valladolid, Miguel qualified for the right to 
take the examinations for the degree of Bachelor of Arts 
at the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico. He 
passed these examinations and, having satisfied all other 
requirements, on March 30, 1770, at the age of 16 he re¬ 
ceived the coveted degree. 

The next three years were spent by Miguel in further 
study and in lecturing on Latin, Philosophy, and Theology 
at the College of San Nicolas Obispo. In May, 1773, at 
the age of 20, he received from the Royal and Pontifical 
University of Mexico the degree of Bachelor of Theology, 
which carried with it all rights, privileges, and immunities 
that were granted to Bachelors of Theology by the ancient 
University of Salamanca. 

Again Miguel returned to Valladolid for further study 
and lecturing. Five years later, in 1778, he was ordained to 
the priesthood, which at that time ranked with law and the 
military as the most honorable of professions open to the 
sons of the Creoles. In 1791, at the age of 38, Father 
Hidalgo, as he may now be called, became Rector of the 


I 


MIGUEL HIDALGO 


199 


College of San Nicolas. He served in that capacity for a 
few months and in March, 1792, he became curate of the 
parish church at Colima, on the Pacific Coast. The fol¬ 
lowing year he was transferred to the parish church of 
San Felipe, in the Bishopric of Michoacan, where he exer¬ 
cised his parochial duties until 1800. 

During the period of his curacy at San Felipe, Father 
Hidalgo first began to exhibit a liberal attitude toward the 
orthodox restraints imposed upon all alike by a medieval 
clerical hierarchy and by a political tyranny represented 
by Charles IV of Spain. In July, 1800, he was formally 
charged before the Holy Office of the Inquisition in Mexi¬ 
co City with the unorthodox teaching, with immorality in 
private life, and with having read hooks that were pro¬ 
hibited by the Catholic Church. Similar charges were filed 
with the Holy Office the following year. 

These charges against Father Hidalgo inspired a secret 
investigation of his conduct by the Inquisition. As a re¬ 
sult it was fairly conclusively established that he had come 
to regard kings as tyrants, and that he favored political 
independence even at the cost of a revolution. It was also 
ascertained that he had read freely from current French 
literature, which, in particular, was under the ban of the 
Church, and that he had become imbued with French 
political and social ideas. A number of witnesses testified 
that his utterances were sufficiently heretical to justify him 
being burned at the stake. This evidence was not made use 
of at the time by the Inquisition Court, which rendered the 
opinion that the evidence against Father Hidalgo was 
questionable. It was not destroyed, however, hut was filed 
away, and was used against him at a later date, when his 
conviction was regarded as essential to the welfare of the 
clerical hierarchy and to the political depotism alike. 
Moreover, at the Easter season of 1801, the Inquisition 
authorities were notified that Father Hidalgo had re- 


200 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


formed. Thus was he not only spared the ordeal of defend¬ 
ing himself before a medieval institution, but he was not 
made cognizant of his alleged indiscretions. This was 
fortunate for human freedom in Mexico. 

In January, 1803, he succeeded his deceased brother, 
Jose Joaquin, as curate of the church of Nuestra Senora 
de los Dolores, in a little village by the latter name in 
Guanajuato. To this appointment the Holy Office of the 
Inquisition interposed no objection. There he began a 
work of love and service that was not to be interrupted for 
seven and one-half years, when he rang the bells of the 
church of Our Lady of Sorrows, and called upon his de¬ 
voted parishioners, the majority of whom were Indians, 
to rise up in just indignation and assert their rights under 
his leadership. 

At Dolores, in addition to attending the spiritual needs 
of his parishioners, Father Hidalgo fervidly concerned 
himself in their material welfare and social betterment, es¬ 
pecially by the introduction of new industries. In so 
doing he came to be regarded not only a spiritual leader, 
but a great benefactor. Concerning these efforts, the dis¬ 
tinguished Mexican historian, Lucas Alaman, says: “He 
greatly extended the culture of the grape, of which today, 
throughout that entire district, considerable harvests are 
gathered. For the culture of silkworms he began to plant 
mulberry trees, of which there are still in Dolores 84 trees, 
planted by him on the site to which has been given the 
name Las Moredas de Hidalgo (the mulberry trees of 
Hidalgo). Likewise there are still preserved the aque¬ 
ducts which he built for the irrigation of the entire nur¬ 
sery. He had also built a pottery factory and another 
for brick; he had constructed forms for tanning leather, 
and he was engaged in establishing workshops for diverse 
crafts. All this and the fact that he was not only generous 
but even extravagant in money matters, had caused him 


MIGUEL HIDALGO 


201 


to place a high estimate on his parishioners, especially on 
the Indians, whose language he knew, and to appreciate 
everyone, who, as the Bishop-elect of Michoacan, Abad 
y Quiepo, and the Intendant of Guanajuato, Biano, were 
interesting themselves in the true development of the coun¬ 
try. It would appear therefore, that in all these concerns 
he did not have practical knowledge, much less orderly 
instinct, which is indispensible for causing them to attain 
considerable progress. Notwithstanding this, he had a- 
chieved considerable success, having even made with the 
silk some garments for his own use and for the last wife 
of his father. He had increased also the raising of bees 
and transferred many swarms to the hacienda of Jaripeo 
when he bought that property. He was very fond of 
music and in addition to having the Indians of his curacy 
learn music, he frequently had the music of the Provin¬ 
cial Batallion of Guanajuato at the frequent entertain¬ 
ments which he had at his house. 

Such were the indictments which the royalist author of 
the most reliable history of the revolutionary movement 
in New Spain, and, withal, one of the bitterest opponents 
of independence and of its illustrious initiator, made a- 
gainst the benevolent curate of Dolores. 

While Father Hidalgo was engaged in promoting the 
material development of his curacy, the civil authorities 
sent agents to up-root his mulberry trees and his grape 
vines. This was in keeping with the prevalent theory that 
colonies existed only for the good of the mother country, 
and, therefore, colonial industries which might compete 
with those of the mother country must not he allowed to 
develop. “He hoped some day to enthrone industry in 
Mexico, and the silkworms donated him their regal ves¬ 
tures; but the foreign monopoly consigned its rivals to 
the flames. He wished to he an agriculturist and the vines 
smiled at him from the hillsides; but the Iberian sword 


202 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


cut off their clusters of grapes. Teeming with benevolent 
and audacious projects he always found the Spanish gov¬ 
ernment obstructing the way .” 1 

On account of his reputation as a very liberal and un¬ 
orthodox man and cleric, the Holy Office of the Inquisi¬ 
tion reopened its case against Father Hidalgo, and in 
1807 and 1809 witnesses testified against him before that 
high tribunal. But again the charges were set aside by the 
Holy Office. 

It was inevitable that one with such liberal tendencies 
as Father Hidalgo should, in time, defy the oppressors of 
his native land, both clerical and political. “His associates 
were of like liberal tendencies. Liberalism throve better 
in provincial cities, among the Creoles, than among the 
official Spanish class in the capital. The desire for equal 
political and economic rights was growing among the Cre¬ 
oles, who found but limited opportunity in professions of 
the law, the church, and the army. Probably four-fifths 
of the native clergy were independents; they saw and were 
exasperated at the privileges of the Spaniards, especially 
of those who held the higher and better paid positions in 
the church.” 

While Gachupines and Creoles maneuvered in Mexi¬ 
co City for mastery, some of the liberal associates of the 
beloved curate of Dblores between the years 1808 and 
1810 were Captains Ignacio Allende and Juan Aldama of 
the Queen’s Dragoons, stationed at San Miguel el Grande, 
and the corregidor of Queretaro, Miguel Dominguez, and 
his celebrated wife, Dona Josef a Maria Ortiz, who de¬ 
serves to share with Father Hidalgo the glory of having 


1 The Spanish text reads: “Quiso un dia entronizar una industria en 
Mexico, y los gusanos de seda le donaron sus regias vestiduras; pero 
el monopolio extranjero entrego a las llamas sus rivales; qui so ser 
agriculter y las vinas le sonreian desde los collados, pero le espada 
ibera decapito sus racimos; fecundo en proyectos beneficos y audaces 
siempre encontraba al gobierno espanel corrandole el camme.” 



MIGUEL HIDALGO 


203 


initiated the national insurrection in Mexico. Finally, these 
liberal associates formulated in Queretaro a plan which 
had as its ultimate object the independence of Mexico. 
This movement was to be initiated in the latter part of 1810, 
and property of the hated Gachupines was to be confiscated 
for the benefit of the public treasury, though the property 
holders themselves were not to be unnecessarily harmed. 
Captain Allende was to be the revolutionary generalis¬ 
simo ; and a government was to be set up, which theoretical¬ 
ly, was to function in the name of the deposed king, Ferdi¬ 
nand VII. “As in Venezuela, so in Mexico, the pretext 
used to justify the insurrection was the necessity of de¬ 
fending the rights of Ferdinand VII.” 

Various faithless, or weak, co-adjustors, however, re¬ 
vealed the plan of the patriots to the Spanish authorities 
as early as August 11, and by the latter some of the pa¬ 
triots were tardily arrested in Queretaro on September 13. 
At once the resourceful and heroic Dona Josef a Ortiz de 
Dominguez successfully arranged to have the information 
reach Captain Allende, whom she assumed was at his post 
in San Miguel, but who was then sojourning at the house 
of Father Hidalgo in Dolores. At two o’clock on the 
morning of September 16—glorious day for Mexico, and 
one as sacred to Mexicans as is July 4 to the people of the 
United States—Captain Allende was aroused from his 
slumbers by Captain Aldama and Don Ignacio Perez, the 
faithful bearer of Dona Josefa’s news. After conferring, 
Captain Allende and Aldama went to the bed-chamber 
of Father Hidalgo. The latter upon being awakened and 
advised of the action of the Spanish authorities at Quere¬ 
taro, began to dress, “resolved to give the grito of inde¬ 
pendence at once.” To his companions the venerable cu¬ 
rate exclaimed: “Gentlemen we are lost; there is no other 
recourse than to go and seize the Gachupines. Thereby 
the discovery of the plan of the patriots precipitated their 


204 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


long contemplated course of action. “The curate of Do¬ 
lores did not reach the decision to give the grito of inde¬ 
pendence until, identified by suffering with the enslaved 
masses of the colony, he was able to appreciate to the 
fullest their misery, their sorrows, their incessant and ster¬ 
ile struggle against the difficulties which the despotism 
of the dominators ever imposed upon them, nor until he 
realized that such a sad and abject situation had no other 
remedy than the breaking of the chains which bound the 
nation to the enslaving mother country.” 

Forthwith Father Hidalgo summoned his brother, Mar¬ 
iano, the vicar, Don Mariano Balleza, and ten of his serv¬ 
ants, and together they repaired to the jail, where, at the 
point of a pistol, the terrified goaler was forced to liberate 
the prisoners. With these as a nucleus Father Hidalgo 
soon had a force of eighty men, who were armed with the 
swords of the regimental soldiers in the town. Next, the 
Sub-Delegate, Rincon, and other Spaniards were appre¬ 
hended, and about dawn—a little earlier than usual,— 
Father Hidalgo “had the church bells ring the garrulous 
and glad call to Sunday mass, and hastily, now in full day¬ 
light, from the surrounding ranches his parishioners came, 
filling the atrium.” To the more than 800 assembled and 
surprised persons Father Hidalgo, in a brief talk, ex¬ 
plained the purpose of the revolution—namely to bring 
about the independence of their fatherland. “He gazed 
on the unturned faces with deep and yearning solicitude. 
‘My children,’ he said, ‘This day comes to us a new dispen¬ 
sation. Are you ready to receive it? Will you make the 
effort to recover from the hated Spaniards the lands stolen 
from your forefathers 800 years ago?’ ” “Long live in¬ 
dependence, long live America, down with evil govern¬ 
ment,” was the cry sent hack to him by those hoarse In¬ 
dian throats. Thus was sounded the original grito de 
Dolores—another battle-cry in behalf of human freedom, 


MIGUEL HIDALGO 


205 


wEich, like the first gun fired at Lexington, was destined 
to be “heard round the world.” It was to be sounded and 
resounded until Mexico was an independent nation. 

Militant in its inception, the “Plan de Dolores” called 
for quick action against the Spaniards. Accordingly 
Father Hidalgo set out for San Miguel el Grande the 
same morning with his poorly equipped force, entirely de¬ 
void of order and discipline. On the way he was joined by 
multitudes of Indians—hereditary toilers of the fields— 
armed with arrows, cudgels, slings and farm implements. 
On passing through Atotonilco, Father Hidalgo noticed in 
the ante-chamber of a chapel a picture of Our Lady of 
Guadalupe, the patron saint of the Mexican Indians. This 
he suspended from a lance and thenceforth it served as the 
guidon of the army of the revolution for independence. 
Thus the movement assumed the status of a religious war. 
Soon it was characterized by all the fervor, intolerance, and 
fanaticism of a religious crusade, and the battle cry of the 
oppressed Indians came to be: “Long live the Virgin 
Guadalupe; death to the Gachupines.” This was unfor¬ 
tunate, but in spite of it and other shortcomings after the 
movement gained momentum, this Indian uprising initiated 
by a benevolent village priest on September 16, 1810, “at 
the obscure village of Dolores signalized the beginning of 
a war which did not entirely cease for eleven years—a war 
which crimsoned the soil of Mexico with blood,” but which 
gave birth to a nation. 

When he had initiated this great movement, Father Hi¬ 
dalgo had fulfilled his mission in behalf of oppressed hu¬ 
manity. “From then on, for a few months, it shall go hard 
with him to the hitter end. The revolution shall go be¬ 
yond his control. He shall be appointed Captain-General, 
but will prove himself not a great soldier. His army shall 
triumph at times, hut only in spite of its ignorance and his 
poor command. Allende will succeed him in the military 


206 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


leadership; Morelos will join him and become his lieu¬ 
tenant and undertake the task of bearing forward the fight 
of independence in years to come. But Hidalgo will not 
long outlive his day of triumph, of proclamation of inde¬ 
pendence.” 

San Miguel el Grande was reached by the “army” of 
independence at night-fall on September 16, and there 
Captain Allende’s regiment of the Queen’s Dragoons 
joined the movement. After imprisoning various Span¬ 
iards, the revolutionists set out for Celaya, which was 
reached on September 21. There Father Hidalgo, who, 
by common accord, had been recognized as chief, was, by 
the other leaders and the Ayuntamiento of Celaya, chosen 
on September 22 as Captain-General of the revolutionary 
army, which at that time numbered approximately 50,000. 
At the same time Captain Allende was chosen Lieutenant- 
General. 

From Celaya the revolutionists advanced against Guana¬ 
juato, capital of the province of the same name, and seat 
of the treasury of the Intendency of Guanajuato. There 
under Intendant Riano the Spanish population defended 
themselves to the death in the public granary (Alhondiga 
de Granaditas). 

Before the assault on the granary was begun Father 
Hidalgo served notice upon the Spaniards, who had sought 
refuge there, that he had “undertaken a beneficent pro¬ 
ject,” namely, “the proclamation of the liberty and inde¬ 
pendence of the Mexican nation. Accordingly, I do not 
view the Spaniards as enemies; but only as obstacles to 
the success of our enterprise.” Hidalgo then called upon 
Intendant Riano to make known this fact to the Spaniards 
in the granary “in order that they may decide whether they 
will declare themselves *is our enemies, or will agree to be¬ 
come prisoners who will receive humane treatment—like 
those already in our company—until Mexican liberty and 


MIGUEL HIDALGO 


207 


independence are achieved. At that time, such persons 
will become Mexican citizens entitled to the restitution of 
their properties which we use at present because of the 
exigencies of war. If, however, those Spaniards do not 
decide to become our prisoners, I shall use every force and 
stratagem to destroy them without any thought of 
quarter.” 

The besieged Spaniards refused to accept the offer, and 
not one escaped. In the flush of victory, the fury of the 
vast Indian hordes was beyond all control. Father Hi¬ 
dalgo and Captain Allende attempted to check the plunder, 
arson, and murder, but their efforts were futile, until In¬ 
dian lust for blood and vengeance had been satisfied. Fi¬ 
nally in an effort to put a stop to the vandalism that pre¬ 
vailed, Father Hidalgo, on September 30, issued an edict 
imposing grave penalties upon all offenders; when this 
had little effect he ordered that all thieves should be shot. 
The Syuntamiento was reconstituted so as to include only 
Creoles, and a mint and a foundry were started, the one to 
coin money and the other to provide much needed cannons 
for the revolutionists. In these ways did the erstwhile 
curate of Dolores undertake constructive measures for the 
revolution. 

By this time the Spanish authorities were thoroughly 
aroused to the danger of the movement at which they had 
scoffed at first. Military forces in the North under Gen¬ 
eral Felix Maria Calleja were hastily summoned by Vice¬ 
roy Venegas. The high clerics, ever faithful allies of the 
Spanish authorities, struck at the independentists. Bishop 
Abad y Quiepo of Michoacan, with the sanction of the 
Archbishop of Mexico, issued a decree excommunicating 
Father Hidalgo and his companions, and the Holy Office 
of the Inquisition reopened its case against him and or¬ 
dered him to appear for trial. Their edicts, however, did not 
produce the desired effect; “they did not cause a single 


208 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


soldier to desert the insurgent cause,” although they were 
probably the means of keeping the capital and other cities 
loyal to the Spaniards. To the edicts, Father Hidalgo 
made a vigorous reply and then led his force against the 
viceregal capital itself. 

The route taken lay through Valladolid. As the revo¬ 
lutionary army approached that city, the Bishop and the 
Spanish authorities fled in terror, and on October 17, 
Father Hidalgo entered in triumph the city where earlier 
he had spent many happy days in study. While he was 
there a cleric, left temporarily in charge of the mitre of 
Michoacan, annulled the decree of excommunication 
against the rebels, and a sum of several hundred thousand 
pesos was obtained from the Cathedral vaults and from 
private individuals. From Valladolid, where many enlist¬ 
ments were made to the patriot cause, the revolutionary 
army, then numbering 80,000 men, advanced on Mexico 
City. 

The viceregal and independentist forces met at Monte de 
las Cruces, only fifteen miles from the capital, where the 
7,000 Spanish troops of General Trujillo were decisively 
defeated, although at terrible cost to the patriots. This 
victory opened up the way to Mexico City, which Captain 
Allende favored advancing upon at once. Father Hidalgo 
opposed this plan, giving as his reasons the lack of muni¬ 
tions, the losses suffered in the recent battle, the approach 
from the North of other royalist forces under General 
Calleja, and the doubtful outcome of an attack on the for¬ 
tress of the capital. The two leaders being unable to agree 
the rebel army remained inactive at the very gates of the 
city until November 1. The next day a retreat was begun 
with the object of occupying Queretaro. The patriot ob¬ 
jective was disputed by General Calleja at Aculco and on 
November 7 the revolutionists fled precipitately from the 
field without even offering battle. 


MIGUEL HIDALGO 


209 


Monte de las Cruces marked the zenith of Hidalgo’s 
success; Aculco marked the definite turning of the tide 
against him. The morale of the patriots had been weak¬ 
ened by the failure to follow up the victory at the former 
place; it reached a low water mark by the debacle at 
Aculco. Thenceforth Hidalgo found it increasingly dif¬ 
ficult to hold his forces together. 

After the disaster at Aculco the patriot forces divided. 
One wing under Father Hidalgo retired to Valladolid. 
The other, under Captain Allende, finally reached Guana¬ 
juato. At the former place. Father Hidalgo learned that 
the revolutionary movement was being warmly espoused 
in the west; accordingly he resolved to transfer his head¬ 
quarters to Guadalajara. Having notified Captain Al¬ 
lende of this decision, he left Valladolid on November 
17 with only 7,000 horsemen, and 240 infantrymen. Nine 
days later he reached Guadalajara where he was soon 
joined by Captain Allende. 

At Guadalajara, Hidalgo and Allende organized a 
revolutionary government with the former as chief. Two 
secretariats were established; an ambassador was accred¬ 
ited to the government of the United States with instruc¬ 
tions to negotiate with it a treaty of alliance and com¬ 
merce; and a periodical, the Despertador Americano (The 
Awakened American), was founded as the first organ of 
the revolution in New Spain. Here Hidalgo issued his 
most worthy decree. Article I of this decree imposed the 
death penalty on all who, at the end of ten days, had not 
liberated their slaves; an odious tribute imposed upon the 
castes and upon Indians was abolished by Article II. 
Again let it be said: “Honor to whom honor is due.” 
Father Hidalgo was the first to decree the liberation of 
human slaves on the continent of North America. His de¬ 
cree of emancipation antedates that of Bolivar in South 
America by over five years and that of Lincoln by over a 
half-century. 


210 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


Soon these constructive efforts of the leaders in behalf 
of liberty and freedom were rudely disturbed by the ad¬ 
vance of General Calleja with 6,000 disciplined royalist 
troops. With his reorganized force, amounting to 80,000 
men, Father Hidalgo went forth to battle at the Puente 
de Calderon, a few miles outside the city of Guadalajara. 
The battle began on January 17,1811, and after six hours 
of desperate fighting ended in a crushing defeat for the 
poorly equipped and inefficiently organized patriots. 
Father Hildago and Captain Allende, escaped from the 
field, and, with a mere remnant of their followers, re¬ 
treated by way of Zacatecas, toward the Provincias In- 
temas, where it was vainly hoped that their forces might 
be reorganized and reinforced. 

The battle of the Puente de Calderon marked the be¬ 
ginning of the end of the first phase of the revolution for 
the freedom and independence of Mexico. On January 25 
the retreating insurgent officers secretly deposed Hidalgo 
as generalissimo, although outwardly his authority was 
recognized. “Henceforth, though his magnetic character 
was useful in holding adherents, his voice was not heard 
in military councils, and he was treated practically as a 
prisoner. Nevertheless he continued loyal to the cause he 
had originated.—He was a superb loser.” 

When the disheartened leaders in their northward flight 
reached Saltillo, in the Province of Coahuila, Father 
Hidalgo received an offer of pardon, guaranteed by a 
decree of the Spanish Cortes. He refused to accept it 
because of his pledge “not to lay down arms ‘until the 
priceless jewel of liberty had been torn from the hands 
of oppressors.’ He firmly declared that he would enter 
into no negotiations with Spain which did not have as 
their basis the recognition of the liberty of the Mexican 
Nation.” In this way the warrior priest glorified himself 
in adversity more than he could ever have done in the hour 
of victory. 


MIGUEL HIDALGO. 


211 


While the revolutionists halted at Saltillo, a disgruntled 
Colonel, Ignacio Elizondo, turned traitor, and laid a trap, 
by which, on March 31, Father Hidalgo, Captain Allende, 
and the other leaders became his prisoners at Las Norias 
de Bajan. From there the prisoners were first taken to 
Monelova, and, later, for trial, to Chihuahua, capital of 
the Provincias Internas, where they arrived on April 23. 
“This was the longest journey the Father of Mexican 
Independence had ever had occasion to undertake—miles 
of unwatered roads, dragging chains, allowed almost no 
rest by night or day, this was his via crucis.” 

The arrival of the prisoners at Chihuahua was joyfully 
announced by the Commandant General of the Provincias 
Intemas, who referred to the treason of Elizondo as a 
well conceived stratagem, “whose execution would have 
been impossible but for the especial aid of heaven.” In 
these words entrenched tyranny, in a blasphemous way, 
exulted over what proved to be but a temporary set-back 
to the independence movement initiated only a few months 
earlier by the leader of the group of prisoners, who, with 
stoicism, then endured the severest of treatment. 

The prisoners were given a trial by a special military 
tribunal, and, by its decree, all but Father Hidalgo were 
shot in the back on June 26. Because he was a priest and 
the chief initiator, Father Hidalgo’s trial was more formal 
and lengthy than that of the others. “Without pride, but 
at the same time without fear, he assumed responsibility 
for all of his acts, even those which might have been 
attributed to popular exaltation or to the imperious ex¬ 
igency of circumstances. He neither intimidated, exoner¬ 
ated, nor denounced any one, as did his companions, who, 
through weakness, or, perhaps, nursing some hope, denied 
their willing participation in the insurrection and placed 
all the blame for the movement on their chief.” 

When the military investigation was concluded, Hidalgo 


212 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


was turned over to clerics for trial on behalf of the Church. 
On July 3, 1811, an opinion was rendered that Hidalgo 
was “a conspirator guilty of high treason and an instiga¬ 
tor of treacherous murders. Therefore he should be put 
to death.” On July 19 he was clad in the garments of a 
priest solely that he might be publicly degraded and un¬ 
frocked by a Bishop’s henchman. One week later the 
recommendation of the clerics was carried out in a formal 
sentence of death by the military tribunal. 

In the words of Robertson: “The ominous news of his 
death sentence did not humiliate the condemned man, who 
evidently had recovered his remarkable poise. Francisco 
de Jauregui, an eyewitness of the solemn ceremony of 
degradation, declared that, when Hidalgo was being 
ignominiously stripped of the priestly vestments, he bore 
himself with such serenity that the priests engaged in the 
ceremony were horrified. Further, this observer declared 
that, when the sentence of death was read, Hidalgo re¬ 
ceived it with surprising indifference, and that when he 
was asked if he had anything to say, he blandly requested 
that an attendant should bring him some sweetmeats. 
‘During the entire day,’ said Jauregui, ‘he spoke of un¬ 
important matters; he slept well at night, breakfasted with 
pleasure, and showed few signs of repentance.’ Hidalgo’s 
keepers evidently treated him humanely, for, on the eve 
of his execution, he expressed his gratitude to the goalers 
in two stanzas of poetry which he scrawled upon the walls 
of his dungeon. Early on the morning of July 30, after 
being quietly escorted out of his cell into the courtyard 
of the prison, Hidalgo was shot by a squad of soldiers. 
Many years later, Lieutenant Armendariz, who com¬ 
manded these soldiers declared that Hidalgo died while 
holding aloft a crucifix.” 

The bodies of Father Hidalgo, Captain Allende, and 
two of their compatriots were given burial at Chihuahua. 


MIGUEL HIDALGO. 


213 


Their heads, however, were displayed for ten years, or 
until after the independence movement had succeeded, in 
iron cages, hung from the four corners of the Alhondiga 
de Graniditas. Today the remains of Father Hidalgo lie 
buried beneath the apse of the “Altar of the Kings,” in 
the Cathedral at Mexico City. 

After the death of Hidalgo the revolutionary move¬ 
ment in Mexico suffered one of its darkest hours, but not 
the one just before the dawn. The mantle of Hidalgo, 
at his death, fell upon the shoulders of a fellow priest, 
Jose Maria Morelos. By him both the spirit and the 
outward organization of the movement for independence 
were ably directed until 1815. In that year this “hero 
of a hundred battles” sacrificed himself in order to save 
the rebel Government. He was tried by the Holy Office 
of the Inquisition—its last and one of its most noted vic¬ 
tims. By it was he found guilty of heresy and of trea¬ 
son to God, the Pope, and the King. At the request of 
the Inquisition, he was shot by the secular authorities on 
December 22, 1815. 

Another dark period followed the death of Morelos, 
but determined and self-sacrificing patriots carried on and 
kept alive the ideal of Hidalgo and Morelos—the inde¬ 
pendence of Mexico, by, and for, the despised classes. By 

1820 a brilliant revolutionary star had risen in the person 
of Vicente Guerrero. So successful was he in carrying 
on the revolutionary movement that in the early part of 

1821 a dashing young officer, Augustin Iturbide, who had 
been sent by Viceroy Apodaca to crush for all time the 
insurrectionist movement, despaired of fulfilling this in¬ 
junction, and, of his own accord, offered to compromise 
with Guerrero. The outcome of this was the Plan de Ig- 
uala, subscribed to by both Guerrero and Iturbide. This 
joint document proclaimed, and soon thereafter was at¬ 
tained, the absolute independence of Mexico, with guaran- 


214 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


tees for individual liberty and rights in the new nation for 
all alike, whether Gachupin, Creole, or Indian. In this 
way the ideal of Hidalgo, conceived at a wayside Indian 
village, and brought forth in years of travail, finally tri¬ 
umphed in the birth of present Mexico. 

One can not cease to regret that Father Hidalgo did 
not live to be assured of the ultimate success of his efforts. 
Nevertheless, his is the glory of having initiated the move¬ 
ment for the independence of Mexico. In the words of 
the celebrated Mexican historian, Genero Garcia: 
“Hidalgo initiated the War of Independence, Morelos de¬ 
veloped it, and Guerrero carried it to its conclusion.” 
Another Mexican writer has aptly said: “The Mexican 
people have acclaimed Hidalgo as the Father of his Coun¬ 
try and in their hearts they have erected an altar to him 
as the true founder of the Mexican Nation.” Bly so doing 
he earned for himself the distinction of being a world 
patriot. 






















































r • hE 5 J 






























. 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
























































ABRAHAM LINCOLN 


America's typical patriot 
1809-1865 

A braham Lincoln was the controlling spirit 

in the greatest crisis through which our nation has 
passed since the adoption of the Federal Constitu¬ 
tion. Although the great Washington presided over the 
convention which wrote that instrument which Gladstone 
called “the most wonderful document ever struck off at a 
given time by the brain and purpose of man/’ there were 
elements of weakness in the new constitutional system 
which was destined to be eliminated by the life and labors 
of Abraham Lincoln. 

The miraculous growth of the fame of Lincoln has 
no parallel in the history of great men. There have been 
over twelve hundred different biographies written of him, 
the greatest number ever written of any American. It is 
difficult to divine the secret of his fascinating personality. 
He was at once simple and profound, modest and bold, 
gentle and firm, logical and poetical, jocular and serious, 
sympathetic and severe, gloomy and optimistic. There 
was in him a mysterious blending of rare qualities of heart 
and mind which cause men to gaze with increasing wonder 
and admiration upon the record of his amazing achieve¬ 
ments. 

When requested to give an account of his youth he 
answered: “Why, it is a great folly to attempt to make 
anything out of me or my early life. It can all be con¬ 
densed in one short sentence of Gray’s Elegy: 

“ ‘The short and simple annals of the poor/ ” 

(215) 


216 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


Later, however, he set out a few of the details of his life 
in a letter as follows: 

“I was born February twelfth, 1809, in Hardin County, 
Kentucky. My parents were both born in Virginia, of 
undistinguished families—second families, perhaps I 
should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, was 
of a family of the name of Hanks, some of whom now 
reside in Adams, some others in Macon County, Illinois. 
My parental grandfather, Abraham Lincoln, emigrated 
from Rockingham County, Virginia, to Kentucky, about 
1781 or 2, where a year or two later he was killed by 
Indians—not in battle, but by stealth—when he was labor¬ 
ing to open a farm in the forest. His ancestors, who were 
Quakers, went to Virginia from Berks County, Pennsyl¬ 
vania. An effort to identify them with the New England 
family of the same name ended in nothing more than a 
similarity of Christian names in both families, such as 
Enoch, Levi, Mordecai, Solomon, Abraham and the like. 

“My father, at the death of his father, was but six years 
of age; and he grew up literally without education. He 
removed from Kentucky to what is now Spencer County, 
Indiana, in my eighth year. We reached our new home 
about the time the State came into the Union. It was a 
wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still 
in the woods. There I grew up. There were some schools, 
so called; but no qualification was required of a teacher 
beyond readin’, writin’ and cipherin’ to the rule of three. 
If a straggler supposed to understand Latin happened to 
sojourn in the neighborhood he was looked upon as a 
wizard. There was absolutely nothing to excite ambi¬ 
tion or education. Of course, when I came of age, I did 
not know much. Still, somehow, I could read, write and 
cipher to the rule of three; but that was all. I have not 
been to school since. The little advance I now have upon 
this store of education I have picked up from time to time 
under the pressure of necessity. 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN 1 


217 


“I was raised to farm work, which I continued until 
I was twenty-two. At twenty-two, I came to Illinois 
and passed the first year in Macon County. Then I got 
to New Salem, at that time in Sangamon, now Menard 
County, where I remained a year as a sort of clerk in a 
store. Then came the Black Hawk War, and I was 
elected captain of volunteers—a success which gave me 
more pleasure than any I have had since. I went through 
the campaign, was elated, ran for the legislature the same 
year (1832) and was beaten, the only time I have ever 
been beaten by the people. The next and three succeed¬ 
ing biennial elections, I was elected to the legislature. I 
was not a candidate afterwards. During this legislature 
period I had studied law, and removed to Springfield to 
practice it. In 1846, I was elected once to the lower 
house of Congress. Was not a candidate for re-election. 
From 1849 to 1854, both inclusive, practiced law more 
assiduously than ever before. Always a Whig in politics, 
and generally on the Whig electoral tickets making ac¬ 
tive canvasses. I was losing interest in politics when the 
repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused me again. 
What I have done since then is pretty well known. 

“If any personal description of me is thought desirable 
it may be said, I am, in height, six feet four inches, nearly; 
lean in flesh, weighing on an average of one hundred and 
eighty pounds; dark complexion, with coarse black hair 
and gray eyes. No other marks or brands recollected. 

Yours very truly, 

A. Lincoln." 

Socially, Lincoln was a plain American citizen of the 
common people. His father was of the sub-stratum of 
society, where poverty pinched and ignorance abided; yet 
the boy Abe possessed from childhood an eager mind 
that hungered for intellectual opportunities. The famine 
of social gratification in the Lincoln household made him 


218 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


crave companionship. A strong feeling of brotherhood 
for mankind grew in his breast. He developed a passion 
for biographies of heroes. His meager library consisted 
of iEsop’s Fables, Robinson Crusoe, Pilgrim’s Progress, 
the Bible and Weem’s Life of Washington. He shucked 
corn to pay for that quaint book of biography which in¬ 
spired in him an ambition to prepare himself for the posi¬ 
tion first held by George Washington, whom he had adopt¬ 
ed as his ideal. When a mere lad he dreamed and talked of 
being President, and each new duty in his life was con¬ 
sciously or unconsciously preparing him for distinguished 
service to his country. Woodrow Wilson said: “No man 
ever entered the presidential chair so well prepared for the 
position as Abraham Lincoln.” 

The profession which he chose was the law, which he 
mastered under trying handicaps. He did most of his 
legal studying while splitting rails in the Sangamon Bot¬ 
toms, running a sawmill, working as a deck-hand on a 
flat boat to and from New Orleans, working as a day 
laborer for neighbor farmers and serving in the Illinois 
State legislature. 

One employer tells a typical story of the lanky boy 
whom he found awkwardly cocked up on a haystack with 
a book. “ ‘What are you reading?’ I says. ‘I am not 
reading, I am studying,’ says he. ‘What are you study¬ 
ing?’ says I. ‘Law,’ says he, as proud as Cicero.” Abra¬ 
ham Lincoln was not reading, but studying. This is the 
key to his mental processes. The studying of a few great 
books developed in him that rare capacity for concentrated 
thought which was the most marked of his powers. 

Perhaps his keen interest in surveying and the knowl¬ 
edge of it, which later made him a deputy surveyor, was 
suggested by the fact that George Washington in the 
pioneer days had devoted his life to that pursuit. If 
every youth in the United States could hold before him 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN! 


219 


such examples as George Washington and Abraham Lin¬ 
coln, the coming generation would give to the world a na¬ 
tion of patriots. 

Dluring the Black Hawk War, Sangamon County, Illi¬ 
nois, organized a company and elected young Lincoln its 
captain. Many stories are told by the soldiers of his phys¬ 
ical and moral courage. One day a forlorn and hungry 
Indian came to camp seeking charity and saying: “Injun 
white man’s friend.” The soldiers were about to hang him 
as a spy when Lincoln interfered and saved his life, offer¬ 
ing to fight every man in his company. “When a man 
comes to me for protection, he’s going to get it, if I have 
to lick all Sangamon County,” he shouted in that shrill 
and penetrating voice which was later to hold men breath¬ 
less with words of undying wisdom. 

The legal profession has been a stepping-stone to polit¬ 
ical preferment since the beginning of our government. 
Lincoln was a politician even before he was a lawyer. 
Only ten days before the election he returned from the 
Black Hawk War and offered himself for the Illinois 
legislature. The rude times and Ithe crude society in 
which he lived are well shown in his maiden political 
speech, made at a public sale a few miles from Spring- 
field. After the sale, the speech-making and the fighting 
began. Lincoln took part in both. After vanquishing 
his man, whom he had fought in protecting a friend from 
abuse, he mounted the speaker’s platform. He was dressed 
in a homespun blue jeans coat and tow trousers. He said: 
“Fellow citizens: I presume you know who I am. I am 
humble Abraham Lincoln. I have been solicited by many 
friends to become a candidate for the legislature. My 
politics are short and sweet—like the old woman’s dance. 
I am in favor of a national bank. I am in favor of the 
internal improvement system, and a high protective tariff*. 
These are my sentiments and political principles. If 


220 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


elected, I shall be thankful—if not, it will be all the same.” 

This was Lincoln’s unpretentious entrance upon a polit¬ 
ical career unparalleled in history. He was defeated, but 
his life is one of the best examples of that American in¬ 
sistent determination which overcomes the most trying 
hardships and consuming defeats. By indomitable will 
and a masterful resuscitating power, he surmounted every 
failure. His life is a constant encouragement to those 
who are called upon to combat hardships and overcome dif¬ 
ficulties. The innumerable failures, which would presup¬ 
pose a lamentable inefficiency, he made stepping-stones to 
future achievements. He was subsequently elected four 
times to the legislature. 

In 1844, he was suggested for Governor of Illinois, but 
with his usual frankness he announced himself a candi¬ 
date for Congress. He did not, however, receive the nomi¬ 
nation until two years later, when he was easily elected. 
He attracted much attention throughout the country by 
his speech in favor of Zachary Taylor for the presidency. 
A leading editor said: “He is a very able, acute, uncouth, 
honest, upright man and a tremendous wag. His manner 
was so good-natured, and his style so peculiar, that he kept 
the House in a continuous roar of merriment. It was the 
crack speech of the day.” 

Lincoln’s term in Congress was as valuable to him as 
a course at college. The Mexican War was fought dur¬ 
ing his service—a war which was not only a camp of 
Instruction wherein those valiant heroes—Winfield Scott, 
IT. S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Joseph 
E. Johnston—received training for our terrible Civil War, 
but also a sort of skirmish line between the slavery and 
the anti-slavery forces. The North and South marshalled 
their advocates in the halls of Congress, and, ultimately, 
on the fields of battle. Lincoln introduced what is known 
as his “Spot Resolution,” requiring the President to in- 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN 


221 


form Congress of the exact location of the “spot” dese¬ 
crated by murderous Mexicans on our soil. He supported 
the famous “Wilmot Proviso,” the purport of which was 
to exclude slavery from any territory acquired from Mexi¬ 
co. Even at this time Lincoln unhesitatingly and firmly 
took his first stand against the extension of slavery. When 
a youth he had witnessed the sale of negroes from an auc¬ 
tion block at New Orleans. The horror of it had stirred in 
his heart that impulse which was later to inspire him to give 
freedom to seven million slaves. That was the point of 
friction which provoked the War of Secession. He never 
receded from the position. 

When Lincoln left Congress, at the age of thirty- 
seven, he was a man of extensive reading, earnest thought, 
a close observer of national affairs and an orator of recog¬ 
nized power. He desired re-election to Congress and 
could have secured it had he not been under an agreement 
not to enter the campaign against a friend. He returned 
to the law office with the determination to eschew politics 
from that time forward and devote himself entirely to 
law. He was the partner of William B. Herndon, and the 
firm had an extensive practice. But the passage of the 
Kansas-Nebraska Bill, providing for the explicit repeal of 
the Missouri Compromise, roused in him such indignation 
that he once more entered politics. On August twenty- 
fourth, 1855, in a familiar letter to an old friend, Joshua 
Speed, he defined his position on the issues of the day: 
“I do oppose the extension of slavery because my 
judgment and feelings so prompt me, and I am under 
no obligations to the contrary. If for this you and I 
must differ, differ we must. . • * 

“You inquire where I now stand. This is a dis¬ 
puted point. I think I am a Whig; but others say 
there are no Whigs, and that I am an Abolitionist. 
When I was in Washington I voted for the Wilmot 


222 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


Proviso as good as forty times; I never heard of 
anyone attempting to un-Whig me for that. I 
now do no more than oppose the extension of slavery. 
I am not a Know-Nothing, that is certain. How 
could I be? How can anyone who abhors the op¬ 
pression of negroes be in favor of degrading classes 
of white people? Our progress in degeneracy ap¬ 
pears to me pretty rapid. As a nation we began by 
declaring that ‘all men are created equal.’ We prac¬ 
tically read it ‘all men are created equal except ne¬ 
groes.’ When the Know-Nothings get control it wall 
read all men are created equal except negroes and 
foreigners and Catholics.’ When it comes to this 
I shall prefer emigrating to some country where they 
make no pretense of loving liberty—to Russia, for 
instance, where despotism can be taken pure and 
without the base alloy of hypocrisy.” 

At the next election, in 1858, he was nominated to run 
against Stephen A. Douglas for the United States Senate. 
He challenged Douglas to a joint debate. Douglas was 
recognized as the greatest forensic debater since Webster. 
Although he defeated Lincoln, the seven debates attracted 
national attention and paved the direct way to the presi¬ 
dency. Lincoln revealed in his speeches a masterful logic, 
a comprehensive grasp of national affairs and a brilliant 
wit and sense of humor which captured his hearers and 
opened the eyes of the country to his greatness of mind 
and spirit. Lincoln and Douglas became known as the 
Big Giant and the Little Giant of the West. 

The Republican party advanced to Lincoln’s position 
and his nomination for the presidency came as a unani¬ 
mous call. The Republican State Convention of Illinois 
met at Decatur, May ninth, 1860. Lincoln was observed 
in the audience and amid a roar of applause was seized by 
the crowd and carried to the platform. Before the con- 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN! 


223 


vention adjourned, it resolved that Abraham Lincoln was 
the first choice of the Republican party of Illinois for the 
presidency. With characteristic energy and unusual po¬ 
litical skill he secured the nomination at the Republican 
National Convention at Chicago, May eighteenth. At the 
psychological moment of this second and most dramatic 
National Republican convention, two ten-foot hickory rails 
were brought upon the platform. Upon the rails hung a 
placard bearing in large letters the following inscription: 
"two rails 

FROM A LOT MADE BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
AND JOHN HANKS, IN THE SANGAMON 
BOTTOM, IN THE YEAR 1830.” 

At the sight of this the delegates went wild with en¬ 
thusiasm and “The Rail Splitter” became the slogan of 
the most exciting (campaign in American politics. It 
later became the occasion for scathing sarcasm by his ene¬ 
mies, who said that he was a rail splitter in his early life and 
a nation splitter in his later life. Senator Seward of New 
York was the leading candidate. Chase of Ohio, Bates 
of Missouri, Smith of Indiana, and Cameron of Pennsyl¬ 
vania were also candidates. Seward’s vote remained about 
the same. As state after state turned to Lincoln great 
excitement prevailed. On the third ballot he received the 
233 votes necessary for nomination, and the crowd went 
wild—pandemonium reigned, men shouted and laughed, 
they wept and sang, they pounded and hugged each other; 
hurrahs within and cannon without made Chicago tremble. 

Lincoln’s speech of acceptance was the product of great 
care and the mature thought of years. A coterie of his 
friends, who were invited to hear his proposed address, 
were dumfounded at its daring tone and masterful sweep. 
They urged him to modify it. Lincoln announced that 
he would rather go down to defeat with the principles of 


224 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


that speech than to win without them. He was immovable 
in his resolution. The startling thought was expressed in 
the famous passage: “A house divided against itself can¬ 
not stand. I believe the government cannot permanently 
exist half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union 
to be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I 
do expect that it will cease to be divided. It will become 
all one thing or all the other.” 

This position as to slavery was in direct contravention 
of the policy of the nation as enunciated in the Missouri 
Compromise of 1820—a compromise which actually di¬ 
vided the nation into two parts—one part slave and the 
other part free. But Lincoln was far in advance of the 
vacillating legislation of his time. 

His indignation over the repeal of the Missouri Com¬ 
promise in the Kansas-Nebraska Bill had elicited from 
him the sharpest and shortest exposition ever given on 
the doctrine of “Popular Sovereignty.” He said it a- 
mounted to just this: “That, if any man chose to enslave 
another, no third man shall be allowed to object.” 

The four and a half months between Lincoln’s nomi¬ 
nation and election marked the most enthusiastic, intense 
and exciting campaign in American politics. His three 
opponents were men of national renown with great per¬ 
sonal followings. Douglas, from his adopted State of 
Illinois, was a United States Senator. Breckenridge, 
from his native State of Kentucky, had an enormous sup¬ 
port from the South. Bell, from Tennessee, was a popular 
Wlhig of the constitutional party. 

Against these odds, Abraham Lincoln received over 
them all fifty-seven electoral votes. From the day of his 
election in November until his inauguration, March fourth, 
1861, the political storm that had been brewing since the 
first issue of the slavery question raged increasingly about 
him. The year had closed in deepest gloom. The South 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN 


225 


was making ready to secede and openly rejoiced that the 
North had chosen a “buffoon” for a President. Even 
the North considered him the cause of national disruption. 
Btit neither friend nor foe knew Abraham Lincoln or rec¬ 
ognized the power of the man. 

The government of which he was soon to take charge 
was shaken with uncertainty and indecision. Buchanan, 
weak, vacillating and irresolute, was an exponent of the 
national feelings around him. He accurately marked the 
public pulse. The whole nation was in an unspeakable 
quandary. The people had repudiated the political creed 
of President Buchanan, and had accorded but feeble sup¬ 
port to the principles for which Lincoln stood. This 
demoralized state of public sentiment was reflected in the 
conflicting streams of advice which flowed upon the Presi¬ 
dent-elect. Horace Greeley, the editor of the leading 
newspaper of that time, urged that the seceding States be 
permitted to go in peace; General Scott suggested that 
the country be divided into four distinct confederacies; 
the business men of the North, alarmed at so much dis¬ 
order and demoralization of commerce, became loudly 
solicitous for concessions to the South. In the face of 
these conditions, no vigorous policy was possible. 

Lincoln’s patience and moral courage were tested to 
the breaking-point. All of the responsibility for the na¬ 
tion’s wreck and ruin, as well as for its salvation, rested 
directly upon him, yet he was powerless to aid or thwart 
the designs of friends or enemies. On December twen¬ 
tieth, 1860, the South Carolina convention unanimously 
adopted the ordinance of secession. On February eight¬ 
eenth, the Southern Confederacy was formed and Jef¬ 
ferson Davis was inaugurated President, with Alexander 
Stephens as Vice-President. The South was aflame with 
excitement and many were fascinated with the idea of tak¬ 
ing Washington and converting it into the Confederate 


226 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


Capital. The Richmond Examiner said: “That filthy 
cage of unclean birds must and will assuredly be purified 
by fire. Our people can take it; they will take it. Scott, 
the arch-traitor, and Lincoln, the beast, combined cannot 
prevent it. The Illinois ape must retrace his journey more 
rapidly than he came.” 

On February 11th, Lincoln left Springfield for Wash¬ 
ington. Standing on the rear platform of the car he made 
the following speech: 

“To-day I leave you. I go to assume a task more diffi¬ 
cult than that which devolved upon General Washington. 
Unless the great God who assisted him shall be with and 
aid me, I must fail; but if the same Omniscient Mind and 
Almighty Arm that directed and protected him shall guide 
and support me, I shall not fail—I shall succeed. Let us 
all pray that the God of our fathers may not forsake us 
now. To Him I commend you all. Permit me to ask 
that with equal sincerity and faith you will invoke His 
wisdom and guidance for me.” 

When he arrived in Washington, members of the Peace 
Congress called on him and were rebuked by this simple 
answer: “My course is as plain as a turnpike road. It 
is marked out by the Constitution. I am in no doubt 
which way to go with the support of the people and the 
assistance of the Almighty I shall undertake it.” He had 
been elevated to the presidency on the slavery question. 
For years it had occupied his earnest attention. It had 
now brought the country to the verge of civil war and to 
disruption of the government. Lincoln, unswerved by 
prejudice or previous declarations, realized that slavery 
had become a subordinate issue, and that the preservation 
of the Union was the all-important question of the hour. 

As President, he displayed no vulgar self-confidence. 
He was sustained by his rare temperament, by the cour¬ 
age which came with responsibility. His fair, plain. 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN' 


227 


simple method of arriving at conclusions saved him from 
the fateful doubts and blunders which would have sub¬ 
merged and beset a man of small calibre. He selected for 
his Cabinet the leaders of his party whom he had defeated. 
As President, he was master of the cabinet. Reticent, 
self-contained, he asserted himself only when occasion de¬ 
manded. 

William H. Seward, his Secretary of State, presump¬ 
tuously prepared an inaugural address, but, without the 
slightest rebuke, Lincoln wrote and delivered his own ad¬ 
dress. The subject was never mentioned and the relations 
between the two men continued cordial. In less than a 
year, Lincoln accepted the resignation from the Cabinet 
of Simon Cameron, his Secretary of War. He astounded 
the government by appointing Edward M. Stanton to the 
vacancy. Lincoln and Stanton had met in 1855 in Cincin¬ 
nati, where they were associate attorneys in a case before 
the Federal Court. On that occasion Stanton had treated 
Lincoln with the utmost disdain. Lincoln overheard him 
say: “Where did that long-armed creature come from and 
what can he expect to do in this case?” Stanton had made 
no effort to conceal his hostility to Lincoln’s administra¬ 
tion. Yet he possessed that dynamic force which was 
needed in the war office; therefore, all personal feelings 
were brushed aside and the appointment was made. Stan¬ 
ton declared that he would make a President of Lincoln; 
in the end, Lincoln made a good Secretary of War of 
Stanton. The latter learned to recognize his superior and 
to submit in every crisis. Stanton affords a striking back¬ 
ground for Lincoln’s magnanimity. 

On April twelfth, Fort Sumter was bombarded. In¬ 
stantly there was an end to all doubt and hesitancy. 
Those who had thought they believed in the right of 
secession and those who had opposed the sending of 
armies into the South fell into line for the Union and 


228 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


for coercion. Slavery was momentarily forgotten and 
the North adopted Lincoln’s version of the situation. 
“The Union! The Union!” was the cry. The vacillating 
and divided North was unified in a day—just as the Dec¬ 
laration of War on April sixth, 1917, against the German 
Empire quieted the present distracting elements in our 
own nation’s political instability. Simultaneously the 
South was also unified. The war so long deferred had 
begun. 

Lincoln continued unshaken throughout those days of 
ferment. He had foreseen the break, but the actuality 
shadowed his grave face with a new and deeper sadness. 
He had refrained from sending any troops to the South. 
Wlith equal reluctance Davis had held aloof from tres¬ 
passing upon the North. Both Lincoln and Davis were 
capable of statesmanly patience. But the firing on Fort 
Sumter set the armies of both sections into instant activ¬ 
ity. Lincoln did not question his right to send United 
States troops to any part of the country. His theory was 
that a state could not secede and therefore all seceding 
states were hut parts of the Union. In response to his 
call for 75,000 volunteers, the North took up the war cry 
of “On to Richmond!” Lincoln had offered the command 
of his army to the Virginian, Robert E. Lee—that aristo¬ 
cratic Southern gentleman who called duty the “sublimest 
word in the English language.” With characteristic 
strength of purpose, Lee declared that he would take no 
part in an invasion of the Southern States, although him¬ 
self opposed to secession. He later became the hero of 
the South and one of the greatest generals ever produced 
by America. 

On the day after the battle of Bull Run, Lincoln sum¬ 
moned General George B. McClellan to Washington and 
appointed him Commander-in-Chief of all the armies of 
the United States. McClellan had seen service in the 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN) 


229 


Mexican War and witnessed the siege of Sebastopol, where 
he had been sent as Secretary of War under Buchanan. 
Ranking next to the President, he at once arrogated to him¬ 
self the importance of the savior of his country, yet con¬ 
tinued a do-nothing policy when popular clamor demanded 
a movement on Richmond. The President was finally con¬ 
strained to urge him into action, saying that if McClellan 
did not want to use the army he would like to borrow it. 

Lincoln then began that long search for a capable com¬ 
mander of initiative genius and fighting ability to cope 
with the brilliant strategy of Robert E. Lee. The time 
speedily came when McClellan was superseded by Hal- 
leck. Lincoln had that rarest virtue among men in public 
life—political unselfishness. At no time during all the 
war did he manipulate any maneuver or movement of the 
army for the purpose of bringing credit or glory to him¬ 
self. He removed McClellan, but instantly reinstated 
him when the occasion demanded it. The President was 
honest, unselfish and able, but not unerring in military 
matters. Although a discriminating judge of human char¬ 
acter in general, he was repeatedly unfortunate in his 
choice of commanders-in-chief. General Burnside and Ma¬ 
jor-General Joseph Hooker in turn followed Halleck. 
fBut Lee was winning such signal success over Hooker that 
an invasion toward Gettysburg was planned and immedi¬ 
ately put into execution. Lincoln removed Hooker and 
gave the command to Meade. The battle of Gettysburg 
was the beginning of the turn. Meade fought valiantly 
and successfully, but failed to follow up his victory as 
Lincoln thought he should have done. It was apparent 
that he had not yet found the man to defeat Lee. He had 
tested four veterans of the North and the East, and now, 
in the hour of desperation, dimly outlined on the Western 
horizon, there appeared the prodigious figure of TJlysses 
S. Grant. It was with a warm feeling in his heart that 


230 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


Lincoln welcomed a man born in his own State who was 
finally to cope with the battle-winning generalship of Lee. 

Lee was persistently invading northern territory and 
plunging into great battles, followed by extraordinary 
events at Washington. The battle of Antietam, one of 
the bloodiest engagements of the entire Civil War, was 
followed by the Emancipation Proclamation. The bat¬ 
tle of Gettysburg was followed by the elevation of Grant 
to the supreme command of the federal armies. These 
two events, the Emancipation Proclamation and the pro¬ 
motion of General Grant, were far-reaching and conse¬ 
quential—outweighing in importance all other occurrences 
of the Civil War. The prime mover in them was Abra¬ 
ham Lincoln. After the battle of Gettysburg, General 
Rushling, who fought in that battle, relates that Lincoln 
said to him: “The fact is, in the very pinch of that battle, 
I went to my room and got down on my knees, and prayed 
Almighty God for victory. I told God that this was His 
country, and the war was His war, but that we couldn’t 
stand another Fredericksburg or Chancellorsville. And 
then and there I made a solemn vow with my Maker that 
if He would stand by your boys at Gettysburg, I would 
stand by Him.” 

Lincoln also made a vow to Heaven that if Lee were 
driven back from Maryland he would issue his proclama¬ 
tion of freedom to the slaves. Secretary Stanton has left 
the following interesting account of the first reading of 
the Proclamation to the Cabinet: 

“It was on September twenty-second, 1862, when 
the cabinet members assembled, not knowing for what 
purpose they had been called together. The President 
slowly and deliberately and to their amazement and 
disgust read to them three chapter from Artemus 
Ward. No one laughed. At last the President threw 
down the book, heaved a sigh and said: ‘Gentlemen, 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN 


231 


why don’t you laugh? With the fearful strain that 
is upon me night and day, if I did not laugh I should 
die, and you need this medicine as much as I do.’ 

He then put his hand in his tall beaver hat that 
sat upon the table and pulled out a little paper. Turn¬ 
ing to the members of the cabinet, he said: 

“ ‘Gentlemen, I have called you here upon very 
important business. I have prepared a little paper 
of much significance. I have made up my mind that 
this paper is to issue; that the time has come when 
it should issue; that the people are ready for it to 
issue. It is due my cabinet that you should be the 
first to hear and know of it, and if any of you have 
any suggestions to make as to the form of this paper, 
or its composition, I shall be glad to hear them. 
But the paper is to issue.’ 

“I have always tried to be calm,” says Secretary 
Stanton, “but I think I lost my calmness for a 
moment, and with great enthusiasm I rose, approached 
the President, extended my hand and said: ‘Mr. 
President, if the reading of chapters of Artemus 
Ward is a prelude to such a deed as this, the book 
should be filed among the archives of the nation, and 
the author should be canonized.’ And all said 
‘Amen.’ ” 

The Battle of Gettysburg was followed by a bill passed 
by Congress in February, 1864, providing that the Presi¬ 
dent appoint a Lieutenant-General to command the armies 
of the United States. Ulysses S. Grant was called to the 
exalted rank previously held only by George Washington. 
Grant had been victorious in the West, and Lincoln real¬ 
ized that under his leadership the army of the Potomac 
might vanquish the South. He justly appraised Grant s 
value and was deaf to the calumniators of the pugnacious 
Hghter from Missouri. Lincoln had learned by bitter ex- 


232 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


perience to give little value to the military judgment of 
editors and scheming politicians. He thought fairly and 
accurately and never as a bigot or partisan. He answered 
a charge that Grant was intoxicated by inquiring what 
brand of whisky he used, as he desired to send a barrel of 
it to some of the other generals. 

Grant arrived in Washington on March eighth, and 
frankly stipulating that he was to be free from all inter¬ 
ference, assumed personal control of the campaign in Vir¬ 
ginia. 

During those bloody battles fought between Grant and 
Lee, Lincoln’s second presidential campaign took place. 
Notwithstanding the slander of politicians who hated him 
in proportion to his contempt for them, Lincoln was re¬ 
elected. Deeply grateful for the confidence of the people, 
he said: “If I know my heart, my gratitude is free from 
any taint of personal triumph. I do not impugn the 
motives of anyone opposed to me. It is no pleasure to me 
to triumph over anyone; but I give thanks to the Almighty 
for this evidence of the people’s resolution to stand by 
free government and the rights of humanity.” 

Lincoln’s second inaugural address has taken its place 
among the most famous of all written or spoken composi¬ 
tions in the English language. After reading it, the editor 
of The London Spectator said: “Abraham Lincoln is the 
greatest master of English prose.” The following excerpt 
reveals his noble purpose and his grasp of the issues of the 
day: 

“Fondly we hope, fervently do we pray, that this 
mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, 
if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled 
by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of 
unrequited toil shall be sunk, and every drop of blood 
drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn 
by the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN! 


233 


so still it must be said: 'The judgments of the Lord 
are true and righteous altogether.’ With malice 
toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the 
right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive 
on to finish the work we are now in; to bind up the 
nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have 
borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan— 
to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and 
lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.” 

As President Lincoln entered upon his second term, 
there were many outside efforts to terminate the war 
through compromise, emanating from both the North and 
the South. Francis P. Blair—Missouri’s junior Sena¬ 
tor—obtained from Lincoln, almost under subterfuge, a 
permit "to pass our lines, go South and return.” In fact, 
he consulted with Jefferson Davis and proposed that both 
sides come to amicable terms for the purpose of sending 
an expedition under the leadership of Davis to Mexico to 
expel Maxmilian. Davis merely gave Blair a short letter 
expressing a willingness to send or receive agents "with a 
view to secure peace to the two countries.” Lincoln then 
gave Blair a letter stating that he would meet informally 
agents sent him "with the view of securing peace to the 
people of our common country.” The closing words of the 
two letters showed that Lincoln and Davis were, as ever, 
politically antipodal. 

Lincoln attended the Hampton Roads meeting. After 
four hours of debate, he was unyielding for the Union, and 
the others for the disunion. It was currently reported that 
Lincoln wrote the word "Union” and offered his visitors 
from the South carte blanche to write beneath it any terms 
whatever. 

Five days after the surrender of the Confederate Army, 
Abraham Lincoln died as he had lived—a martyr. J. 
Wilkes Booth—a fanatical and dissipated actor—assas- 


234 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


sinated him in the President’s box at Ford’s Theater, on 
the evening of April 14th, 1865. The South thus lost 
it greatest friend, for had he lived she would never have 
suffered the trials of the reconstruction period, which have 
disgraced the pages of American history. 

Abraham Lincoln was the pivotal point around which 
the Civil War revolved. It was that war which “left the 
mooted question of national unity so firmly settled that 
only sporadic and unconsequential voices have since de¬ 
bated the final result.” The passion of Lincoln’s Ameri¬ 
canism and his ardent devotion to the Union are revealed 
in the following address delivered by him at the Dedication 
of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg. Although de¬ 
livered from impromptu notes jotted down while en route 
to Gettysburg, it is a revelation of his great soul expressed 
in classic words: 

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers 
brought forth on this continent a new nation, con¬ 
ceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that 
all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in 
a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any 
nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. 
We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We 
have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final 
resting-place for those who here gave their lives that 
that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and 
proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, 
we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot 
hallow this ground. The brave men living and dead, 
who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our 
poor powers to add or detract. The world will little 
note nor long remember what we say here, but it 
can never forget what they did here. It is for us, 
the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished 
work which they who fought here have thus far so 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN* 


235 


nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedi¬ 
cated to the great task remaining before us—that 
from these honored dead we take increased devotion to 
that cause for which they gave the last full measure of 
devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead 
shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, 
shall have a new birth of freedom, and that the gov¬ 
ernment of the people, by the people, for the people, 
shall not perish from the earth.” 

If no other record of Lincoln’s life remained than these 
words, the world would recognize his greatness and know 
that he had given statesmanship a new and nobler meaning. 

“With malice, toward none, with charity for all, with 
firmness in the right,” Lincoln lived and died a patriot and 
a martyr. Though of lowly origin, his character and serv¬ 
ices have placed him high in the annals of American his¬ 
tory and endeared him to all hearts. Lincoln will ever be 
an inspiration to Americans and to the people of all na¬ 
tions. 






♦ 









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\ 


> 




I 







home of Lincoln’s early youth, Elizabethtown, Kentucky, In this house his mother died when Lincoln was nine 
years old. 

Home of Lincoln, Coles County, Illinois. In this house Lincoln lived when he became of age. While living here he 
broke up fifteen acres of sod with oxen and split the rails destined to make him immortal. 

Home of Lincoln 1861-65—White House. 





















































































































































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9 


ROBERT E. LEE 














ROBERT E. LEE 


THE CHIVALROUS SOUTHERN HERO 

1807-1870 

R OBERT E. LEE loved his native state, Virginia, 
with a devotion equal to that of Bismarck for Prus¬ 
sia. When called upon to defend her, he answered 
the call and unsheathed his sword in her behalf. Duty was 
the impelling power in the life of Lee. He wrote to his son: 
“Duty is the sublimest word in our language,” and he 
felt that his first and most sacred duty was loyalty to his 
state. Lincoln and Lee were both patriots. Lee inter¬ 
preted his patriotic duty to be first to his state, while Lin¬ 
coln interpreted his first and most sacred duty to be that of 
serving his nation. 

General Henry Lee, the father of Robert, was a valiant 
Revolutionary soldier, an impassioned patriot, a classic 
scholar, and a thrilling orator. He was one of the signers 
of the Declaration of Independence; also Governor of 
Virginia. He was impetuous and hot-headed, had many 
warm friends and bitter enemies. It is said that once 
when ill, he became angry at his negro servant and threw 
his boot at her. She threw it back at him, and thus won 
his admiration. His son Robert flung no boots nor had 
any flung at him. Henry Lee was the beloved friend of 
Patrick Henry, Nathaniel Green and George Washington, 
who affectionately called him “Light Horse Harry.” Lee 
and Washington were wealthy farmers and neighbors. 
Lee’s wife was Ann Hall Carter. It is said that Robert 
Lee owed his greatness to his father’s blood and his good¬ 
ness to that of his mother. 


(237) 


238 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


Perhaps because Robert E. Lee came to greatness so 
late in life, little is known of his early training. At eight¬ 
een he entered West Point, where he stood high in his 
classes. His conduct was irreproachable. His temperance 
and self-control in moral matters are doubly creditable, 
when we read the statement made by Colonel Thayer, sup¬ 
erintendent of West Point at that time, to President Ad¬ 
ams, as to the drunkenness and dissipation generally prev¬ 
alent among the young cadets. A distaste for profanity 
existed in Lee throughout his life. A conversation between 
him and General Wise is often quoted. Wise had damned 
an intruding civilian out of camp. Lee dined with him later 
and suggested that they walk into the graden. Lee began: 
“Wise, you know as well as I do what the army regula¬ 
tions say about profanity. As an old friend, let me ask 
you if that dreadful habit cannot be broken V 9 Wise, see¬ 
ing that he was due a sermon replied: “Now, I am per¬ 
fectly willing that you and Jackson shall do the praying 
for the whole army of Northern Virginia, but in Heaven’s 
name, let me do the cussin’ for one small brigade.” 

Immediately after his graduation from West Point he 
received an appointment in the Engineer Corps, and was 
stationed for some years at Old Point Comfort, Virginia. 
It was during this time that he met the great-granddaugh¬ 
ter of Martha Washington—Mary Lee Custis—whom he 
married at Arlington in June of 1831, and through whom, 
several years later, he came into control of extensive prop¬ 
erty, including farms, mansions and a number of slaves. 

Lee followed his profession of military engineer until 
the outbreak of the Mexican War. He rose from captain, 
in which rank he served in the battle of Buena Vista, to 
colonel at Chapultepec. From the beginning to the end 
of the war he displayed energy, daring and resource, and 
won for himself the distinction of being a great general. 

During the years of violent controversy which preceded 


ROBERT E. LEE 


239 


the secession of the South, he attended quietly to his mili¬ 
tary duties. But the realization that sooner or later he 
would he forced to choose one party or the other and 
actively defend its principles was a heavy burden upon his 
mind. Neither party satisfied him, for each seemed in¬ 
considerate of the rights and feelings of the other. In 
December, 1859, he wrote: “Feeling the aggression of the 
North, resenting their denial of the equal rights of our 
citizens to the common territory of the Commonwealth, I 
am not pleased with the course of the ‘Cotton States,’ as 
they term themselves. In addition to their selfish, dicta¬ 
torial bearing, the threats they throw out against the ‘Bor¬ 
der States,’ as they call them, if they will not join them, 
argues little for the benefit of peace of Virginia, should 
she determine to coalesce with them. While I wish to do 
what is right, I am unwilling to do what is wrong at the 
bidding of the South or of the North.” 

At that time many able men of the North advocated the 
right of secession and the peaceable separation of the 
two sections. Wendell Phillips—an ardent anti-slavist— 
said: “Here are a series of states girding the gulf who 
think their peculiarisms require a separate government. 
They have a right to decide that question without ap¬ 
pealing to me or you.” The New York Tribune advo¬ 
cated the reconstruction of the Union with New England 
left out. Horace Greeley wrote: “If the cotton states 
choose to form an independent nation, they have a clear 
right to do so.” 

Many Americans believed that no state should be co¬ 
erced by the government at Washington. After the elec¬ 
tion of Lincoln came the first intimation that a seceding 
state might be coerced back into the Union. It was a bold, 
startling stroke, new to the country. It elicited from 
Horace Greeley the vigorous declaration, “Soldiers march¬ 
ing into the South for any such unholy purpose would be 


240 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


fired upon in the rear by Northern men who believe in the 
sacred right of secession.” 

Secession was the vital question of the Civil War; slav¬ 
ery was secondary and today the North and the South re¬ 
joice equally that these two colossal issues were settled for¬ 
ever, 

Lee said when he was asked whether the issue of the 
war would perpetuate the institution of slavery, “The 
future is in the hands of Providence. If the slaves of the 
South were mine, I would surrender them all without a 
struggle to avert this war.” 

The bombardment of Fort Sumter opened the Civil 
War. Lincoln called upon the states of the Union for 
75,000 troops of their militia. At the urgent recommen¬ 
dation of General Winfield Scott, who said, “Robert E. 
Lee is the greatest soldier now living,” President Lincoln 
offered Lee the command of the United States army. 
The secession of Virginia two days later gave Lee to the 
South. After an agonizing mental struggle, he refused 
the honor proffered by the President. The difficulties of 
decision placed him in a position involving a profounder 
moral struggle than can be realized. For thirty years he 
had served under the Stars and Stripes. Honor, advance¬ 
ment, profit were assured should he remain with the 
United States. Should he choose to go with the South, 
what would come to him no one could tell. Mrs. Lee re¬ 
lates of his mental strife: 

“The night his letter of resignation was to be written, 
he asked to be left alone for a time, and while he paced the 
chamber above and was Heard frequently to fall upon his 
knees and engage in prayer for divine guidance, I waited 
and watched and pfayed below. At last he came down, 
calm, collected, almost cheerful, and said, ‘Well, Mary, 
the question is settled. Here is my letter of resignation 
and a letter I have written to General Scott.’ ” Lee had 


















































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ROBERT E. LEE 


241 


settled the question once and for all and in all his corre¬ 
spondence or conversation there is nothing to indicate re¬ 
gret. Said he: “Trusting in God, an approving con¬ 
science, and the aid of my fellow citizens, I accept the 
command of the armies of Virginia.” He afterwards 
wrote: “I declined the offer made me to take command 
of the army,—stating as candidly and courageously as I 
could, that, though opposed to secession and deprecating 
war, I could take no part in an invasion of the Southern 
States.” Later he was put in command of the military 
forces of Virginia. 

General Lee was then in the prime of his splendid phys¬ 
ical and mental manhood. He was six feet tall, strong, 
supple, and in perfect health. His mustache was dark 
and heavy, and his hair was as yet scarcely touched by 
the frost which whitened it before the end of the year. 
His military hearing said to all, Here is a master, a Sir 
Galahad, 

“Whose strength was as the strength of ten. 

Because his heart was pure.” 

Lee understood at once the burdens and responsibilities 
of the Southern Confederacy, which had just been formed 
out of the states of Virginia, South Carolina, North Caro¬ 
lina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi with 
Jefferson Davis as President and Alexander H. Stephens 
as Vice-President. Lee’s active participation with the 
army of northern Virginia began in the spring of 1862. 
General Joseph E. Johnston and General G. W. Smith 
outranked him, until the one was wounded and the other 
became ill. On June first, 1862, he was put in general com¬ 
mand of the southern army by Jefferson Davis and his 
cabinet. The hand of a master strategist was at once re¬ 
vealed. 

Lee forthwith sent the following astounding order to 
Thomas J. Jackson (“Stonewall”): “Leave your en- 


242 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


feebled troops to watch the country and guard the passes, 
and with your main body move rapidly to Ashland by rail 
or otherwise, and sweep down between the Chickahominy 
and Pamunkey, cutting off the enemy’s communications, 
while this army attacks McClellan in front.” It was a 
bold, pugnacious, inspiriting stroke. It meant fighting 
and scientific military maneuvering. It thrilled the South 
and the Confederate army and delighted the combative 
Jackson. Jackson was repeatedly given charge of Lee’s 
most delicate and difficult strategies. It was when he 
met the Union forces on the field of Bull Run, that by his 
pugnacious resistance at the critical moment in the battle 
he won the sobriquet “Stonewall.” In the thick of the 
fight an under-officer asked, “Where is General Jackson?” 
“There he stands like a stonewall.” Jackson and John¬ 
ston had fought with Lee in the Mexican War and when 
Virginia seceded, the three with fidelity to state as their 
ruling passion, cast their lot with the South—Johnston 
resigning a high commission in the United States Army. 
“Stonewall” Jackson and Joseph E. Johnston personified 
the typical Virginia gentleman. They were chivalrous, de¬ 
vout, fearless, magnanimous, conscientious—characteris¬ 
tics embodied in che typical Southerner of the old school. 

Lee understood that McClellan’s tactics involved a slow, 
gradual approach upon Richmond. He promptly fore¬ 
stalled this possible danger by erecting impregnable works 
about the city. At the same time he took the offensive 
against McClellan and drove him back in the terrible battle 
of Gaines’ Mill. He did not succeed in capturing the 
Federal army, for the Union forces held Malvern Hill 
against the fierce onslaughts of the Confederates and 
reached their gunboats on the James River in safety. 

In this battle Lee wielded and controlled his tremen¬ 
dous forces as complacently and easily as the engineer 
on a locomotive manipulates his levers. Time and again 


ROBERT E. LEE 


243 


he checkmated the movements of the Union command- 
ers McClellan, Burnside, Pope and Hooker. He under¬ 
stood them all and in nearly every case anticipated their 
plans and purposes. His fame as a great military genius 
and far-seeing strategist may be traced to his insight into 
the motives and purposes of his several and dissimilar an¬ 
tagonists, as well as his quick initiative and tenacious 
pugnacity. 

Scarcely three months had elapsed after Lee assumed 
command until the way seemed open and the time op¬ 
portune for the invasion of Maryland. When, by a 
strange mishap, his plans fell into the hands of McClel¬ 
lan, he quickly changed them. With forty thousand men 
he met McClellan, who had eighty-seven thousand men, 
in one of the bloodiest engagements ever fought on this 
continent—the battle of Antietam. Lee’s intrepidity saved 
him. His men sank down to rest at nightfall on the line 
of battle, so exhausted that they could not be awakened 
to eat their rations. The officers, faint with hunger and 
sickened with the awful slaughter, looked forward with 
apprehension to the morrow, but from one indomitable 
heart the hope of victory had not vanished. When Lee 
called his officers before him, each advised immediate re¬ 
treat across the Potomac. After Jackson, Longstreet and 
other officers had given their opinions, there was an appall¬ 
ing silence. Lee, rising erect in his stirrups, said: “Gen¬ 
tlemen, we will not cross the Potomac tonight. If McClel¬ 
lan wants to fight in the morning, I will give him battle.” 
All the next day Lee watched and waited, but McClellan 
did not accept the challenge and Lee recrossed into Vir¬ 
ginia unmolested. President Lincoln, astute and pene¬ 
trating, afterwards asked McClellan what the outcome at 
Antietam would have been could the North and South 
have exchanged generals. 

A number of prominent leaders of the South, who did 


244 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


not like Jefferson Davis, visited Lee at his camp early in 
1863, and urged him to consider the proposition of suc¬ 
ceeding Davis as President of the Confederacy. “Never,” 
Lee replied. “That, gentlemen, I will never permit. 
Whatever talents I may possess are military. I think the 
military and civil talents are distinct. I shall not do the 
people the injustice to accept high civil office, with whose 
questions it has not been my business to become familiar.” 
“But, General Lee, history does not sustain your view. 
Cassar and Frederick of Prussia and Bonaparte were 
great statesmen as well as great generals.”—“And great 
tyrants,” Lee promptly replied. “But Washington was 
both and yet not a tyrant.” Lee replied, “Washington was 
an exception to all rules.” 

Notwithstanding the loss of his ablest lieutenant— 
“Stonewall” Jackson—Lee dauntlessly determined upon 
his second invasion of northern territory. This was the 
greatest military move in his career and culminated in the 
three days’ holocaust at Gettysburg. 

Lee’s broad comprehension discerned the immediate ne¬ 
cessity of striking a quick, terrible blow in defense of Rich¬ 
mond. In the Far West, Grant was tenaciously belea¬ 
guering Vicksburg, where he was destined to win, even as 
he had won at Fort Donelson and at Shiloh. 

General Lee’s outlines of his campaigns were intense 
mental visions and his visions were not mere dreams. Each 
sally was a mathematical problem. Whether advancing or 
retreating, it conformed to the art and science of the civil 
engineer, and he was ever alert to alter and revamp his 
plans. No warrior, not even Napoleon, possessed a more 
vivid imagination or concise knowledge of military tac¬ 
tics. The Gettysburg campaign was thoroughly matured, 
but his orders were instantaneously modified or wholly 
changed as the exigencies of the march or battlefield re¬ 
quired. 


ROBERT E. LEE 


245 


The invasion has been characterized as “splendid audac¬ 
ity,” but Lee’s audacity was justified by his confidence 
in his own ability, and in the steadfast courage and in¬ 
trepid valor of his army, which had been tried many 
times in the fiery furnace. Charles Francis Adams, a 
conspicuous Northerner, said: “I do not believe that any 
more formidable or better organization and animated 
force was ever set in motion than that which Lee led 
across the Potomac in the early summer of 1863. It was 
essentially an army of fighters.” 

The campaign was planned with consummate skill and 
pursued with keen strategy and daring. Critics agree 
that its failure may be attributed to a lack of dependable 
support at a critical moment on the part of his generals— 
chiefly J. E. B. Stuart and “Old War Horse” (Long- 
street) . 

We are not so much concerned here with the details 
of the conflict at Gettysburg as with the man whose tre¬ 
mendous genius occasioned it. This battle, the greatest 
ever fought on American soil, was conducted by a man 
who was pre-eminently a lover of peace. Lee became in¬ 
volved in the struggle of his nation when it was rocked 
to its foundation with civil strife. When summoned to 
the harsh rude work of the warrior, he had no lust for 
battle. On the eve of the invasion of the North, he wrote 
to his wife: “The country here looks very green and 
pretty, notwithstanding the ravages of war. What a 
beautiful world God in His loving kindness to his crea¬ 
tures has given us. What a shame that men endowed 
with reason and knowledge of right should mar His gifts.” 

When the battle of Gettysburg was over and while the 
squadrons yet waited wearily for orders, the commander, 
disconsolate and with a great pity in his heart, stood 
by his noble gray horse—“Traveler”—with the bridle rein 
over his arm—a figure as pathetic as that of King David 


246 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


after the flight from Jerusalem—when General Pickett 
came up and said: “General, my noble division has been 
swept away.” The great chieftain replied: “It was all 
my fault, all my fault!” But his depression passed quick¬ 
ly, and he said with decision: “We must go back to Vir¬ 
ginia.” The order was issued, but for twenty-four hours 
Lee’s army remained in position on the field of Gettysburg, 
and was not attacked. 

The retreat was conducted as skillfully and deliberately 
as the invasion itself. The zeal of the battle was unabated 
in the General and his men. Meade was too wary to at¬ 
tack the retreating lion. When Lee reached the Potomac, 
he found the river a seething flood, and camped on its 
banks for ten days, undisturbed by attack from Meade. 

Generously and magnanimously Lee assumed the whole 
responsibility for the tragedy at Gettysburg. He had no 
word of censure for the generals who had failed him at 
the critical moment, though his declaration that he would 
have won at Gettysburg had “Stonewall” Jackson lived, 
expressed the sentiment of the entire South. His sin¬ 
cerity in assuming the responsibility for the Gettysburg 
defeat was proved by an immediate offer to resign his 
command. The following letter written to Jefferson 
Davis reveals his unselfish spirit: 

“Camp Orange, August 8 , 1868 . 

“Mr. President: 

“I am extremely obliged to you for the attention given 
to the wants of the army and the efforts made to supply 
them. Our absentees are returning, and I hope the earnest 
and beautiful appeal made to the country in your procla¬ 
mation may stir up the whole people, and that they may 
see their duty and perform it. Nothing is wanted but that 
their fortitude should equal their bravery to insure the 
success of our cause. We must expect reverses, even de¬ 
feats. . . . The general remedy for want of success 

in a military commander is his removal. . . . 


ROBERT E. LEE 


247 


“I have been prompted by these reflections more than 
once since my return from Pennsylvania to propose to 
your Excellency the propriety of selecting another com¬ 
mander for the army. I have seen and heard expressions 
of discontent in the public journals as the result of the 
expedition. I do not know how far this feeling extends 
to the army. My brother officers have been too kind to 
report it and so far the troops have been too generous 
to exhibit it. But it is fair, however, to suppose that it 
exists, and success is so necessary to us that nothing should 
be left undone to secure it. . . . 

“Everything, therefore, points to the advantage to be 
derived from a new commander, and I the more anxiously 
urge the matter upon your Excellency from my belief that 
a younger and abler man than myself can be readily ob¬ 
tained. I know he will have as gallant and brave an army 
as ever existed to second his efforts, and it would be the 
happiest day of my life to see at its head a worthy leader— 
one that would accomplish more than I can perform, and 
all that I have wished. . . . 

“Very respectfully and truly yours, 

“R. E. Lee. 

“General.” 

In Mr. Davis’ reply occurs this sentence: “To ask me 
to substitute for you some one, in my judgment, more 
fit to command, or who would possess more the confidence 
of the army, or of the reflecting men of the country, is 
to demand an impossibility.” 

At this time President Lincoln arrived at the conclusion 
that Lee’s army rather than Richmond was the necessary 
objective. He realized that the South could never be sub¬ 
dued, while Lee was in the field. Lee said at Gettysburg: 
“There is the enemy. I will whip him or he will whip me.” 
Lincoln said: “There is Lee. We must destroy him or 
he will destroy us.” Perhaps Lincoln did not know that 


248 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


Lee was utterly helpless to project another invasion; he 
did not know that his soldiers were hungry, barefooted, 
and physically exhausted. Perhaps he did not realize that 
General Lee himself had many meals of cabbage alone 
and joked with his soldiers about borrowing a piece of 
bacon when he entertained guests. But the President did 
know that Meade was incapable of defeating Lee. He 
removed him and put in his place the fighter from Mis¬ 
souri—U. S. Grant—who coincided with Lincoln and 
made Lee’s army his true objective, and not Richmond. 

These two men had not met in battle until now. Grant 
perceived immediately that no generalship could prevail 
against Lee—the master of strategy. He determined 
upon a new policy of giving two men for one, or three 
for one, if necessary four for one. Only by continual 
hammering could he destroy Lee and subdue the South. 
Knowing his ability to continue these tactics indefinitely, 
he began with the battle of the “Wilderness,” and followed 
with what was known as the “Overland Campaign.” With 
acute military foresight, Lee anticipated move after move 
made by Grant. Many military experts accord to Lee 
greater genius in the science of warfare than the hero of 
Appomattox. He met every move made by his able 
antagonist with the tactics of a Napoleon. 

After Grant had been for six days in a deadly grapple 
with Lee at the battles of the Wilderness and Spottsyl- 
vania, he sent to Washington his famous dispatch: “I 
propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.” 
This was on May eleventh, 1864. The battle of Spott- 
sylvania was resumed and concluded the next day, after 
twenty-four hours of dreadful fighting, chiefly at the 
“Angle of Death—one hideous Golgotha,” yet with no 
marked advantages to Grant. His next purpose was to 
place himself between Lee and Richmond, but Lee again 
anticipated his skillful foe, and quickly transferred his 


ROBERT E. LEE 


249 


army from the rear to the front of the northern army. 
It was one of the most brilliant movements in the annals 
of warfare. When Grant’s leading column under Han¬ 
cock arrived at North Anna, Lee was entrenched across 
the path. Finally, in this strategic race, Grant found Lee 
posted at Hanover Court House—the fourth time since 
Spottsylvania that Lee had thwarted his plans. 

Grant spent many anxious, uneasy hours seeking to out- 
maneuver his opponent, and was balked time and again. 
At Cold Harbor, Grant’s gallant army of the Potomac 
was sent repeatedly against Lee’s steadfast lines, and was 
as often thrown back. Flesh and blood could stand no 
more. Again Grant ordered the army to move forward. 
It quailed and lay still, immovable—a silent but unani¬ 
mous disobedience. This was Grant’s most disastrous and 
distressing experience and he suffered the deepest appre¬ 
hensions that ever stirred his soul. 

Lee won victory after victory, although confronted by 
vastly superior forces. Every victory was followed by 
a retreat, until the last days of the struggle occurred in 
the siege of Petersburg and Richmond—a campaign 
which, to quote Jefferson Davis, “was too sad to be pa¬ 
tiently considered.” Lee’s lines grew steadily thinner 
under the wasting of battle, famine and sickness, while 
Grant’s lines were as constantly refilled. Grant’s policy 
of “hammering”—his own expression—continued with 
unabating tenacity; steadily, unremittingly the attrition 
went on. Lee rose to grander heights of strategy as the 
situation grew more desperate. He sent General Early 
with a detachment to threaten Washington, but this skill¬ 
ful maneuver only delayed the fateful day. “Valor may 
be indefinite, but endurance has its limitations!” 

On the last day of the defense of Richmond, Lee was 
unshaken and undismayed. His veterans, a mere handful 
of spectres, abandoned the trenches, fully believing their 
leader was now to lure Grant to his destruction. 


250 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


“In the two weeks between Lee’s desperate effort to 
break Grant’s' right, and their personal meeting at Ap¬ 
pomattox, where Lee’s surrender took place, both Lee and 
Grant reached their zenith. In Lee every high quality 
which had enabled him to carry the Confederacy on his 
shoulders for more than two years shone forth. In Grant 
noble and hitherto unsuspected qualities discovered them¬ 
selves.” Up to this time both North and South had looked 
upon Grant as a sort of reincarnation of some pagan war¬ 
rior from the ruthless dark ages. Now, in the presence 
of his great antagonist, his magnanimity in the hour of 
victory equalled his implacable sternness and terrible 
onslaught and efficiency on the field of battle. 

“You will take with you,” said Lee, in his farewell 
address to his veterans, “the satisfaction that proceeds 
from the consciousness of duty faithfully performed.” 
Ever, ever the word duty . As Lee turned from Ap¬ 
pomattox and rode away, he contemplated, without dis¬ 
may, the obscurity which defeated greatness covets. 
Without a trace of rancor, he returned to his home in 
Richmond. He dismounted from his faithful horse and 
patted the neck of the noble animal affectionately. As 
he entered his yard, his dog was the first to recognize him. 
Richmond rejoiced as if a conquering hero had entered 
her gates. His first recorded words after reaching his 
home was a tribute to his victorious opponent: “General 
Grant has acted with magnanimity.” 

Lee’s agony will never he known. In his last con¬ 
ference with his officers, he said at its conclusion: “I must 
see Grant. I would rather die a thousand deaths than 
to surrender this army.” If Lee suffered so acutely at 
that hour of humiliation, what must have been his agony 
of spirit in the days of delirium that followed the assas¬ 
sination of Lincoln? What must he have endured dur¬ 
ing the years of reconstruction, when cupidity and un- 


ROBERT E. LEE 


251 


soldierly fanaticism wrecked so terrible a vengeance upon 
the South? But he went through it all with the patience 
and poise of a loyal American patriot, ever admonishing 
and advising his people to be good citizens and to bear 
their misfortunes uncomplainingly. 

Grand juries sought to indict him, and a Congres¬ 
sional Committee summoned him to appear in Washing¬ 
ton. There he was harassed with impertinent questions, 
but not for one moment was his splendid equipoise dis¬ 
turbed. He stood before Congress one of the greatest 
moral heroes of history, a man of such dignity and nobility 
that Congress was deeply moved. 

Lee declared that as the decision of the war had been 
against the South, it was, in his opinion, “the part of 
wisdom to acquiesce in the result, and of candor to rec¬ 
ognize the fact.” Said he: “I have invariably recom¬ 
mended this course since the cessation of hostilities, and 
have endeavored to practise it myself.” He lived to re¬ 
joice that the Union was preserved, and today the men 
who followed Lee are vying with the men who followed 
Grant in loyal devotion to the Union and to our country’s 
flag. 

To his old soldiers who had not been able to secure 
employment and who were somewhat embittered, Lee 
wrote: “I am sorry to hear that our returned soldiers 
cannot obtain employment. Tell them they must all set 
to work and if they cannot do what they prefer, do what 
they can. Virginia wants all her sons to sustain and re¬ 
cuperate her. . . . Don’t bring up your sons to detest 

the United States Government. Recollect that we form 
one country now. Abandon all local animosities and make 
your sons Americans!” 

During the war the devoted loyalty of the southern 
army to its commander had become something akin to 
worship. He had shielded them and protected them when 


252 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


they were poorly clothed and fed, and often delayed bat¬ 
tles that they might rest on the Sabbath and hear words 
of comfort and cheer from their chaplains. Such con¬ 
sideration could come only from a commander who loved 
his army as if they were his children. And General Lee 
never forgot his old comrades. In 1869, he said to a 
confederate officer, who was touring the South, “You will 
meet many of my old soldiers during your trip; I wish 
you to tell them that I often think of them, try every day 
to pray for them, and am always gratified to hear of 
their prosperity.” 

Many business positions of high trust and dignity were 
pressed upon General Lee after his surrender. He was 
solicited to become president of an insurance company 
at an annual salary of $50,000. He declined the offer 
on the grounds that he was not familiar with that kind 
of work. “But, General,” said the gentleman who repre¬ 
sented the company, “you will not be expected to do any 
work; what we desire is the use of your name.” Lee 
replied that “his name was not for sale.” Thomas Nel¬ 
son Page, in referring to this incident, said: “Amid the 
commercialism of the present age, this sounds as refresh¬ 
ing as the oath of a Knight of the Round Table.” 

After refusing the highest official position within the 
gift of Virginia, he was persuaded to accept the Presi¬ 
dency of Washington College at Lexington. In accepting 
this office, he wrote, “I have led the young men of the 
South in battle; I have seen many of them die on the field; 
I shall devote my remaining energies to training young 
men to do their duty in life.” 

At that time the college consisted of four professors 
and forty students. Lee’s great name brought many stu¬ 
dents, and the college was renamed Washington and Lee 
University. 

Lee died on the morning of October twelfth, 1870— 


ROBERT E. LEE 


253 


fivie years after his surrender. U. S. Grant was not a 
truer, more consistent and loyal American during this 
time than was the man who handed him his sword at Ap¬ 
pomattox. 

The love and esteem in which the State of Virginia 
holds Robert E. Lee was shown when she selected her 
two favorite sons to represent her in Statuary Hall in the 
Capitol at Washington. A long list of great Virginians 
were considered, among whom were James Madison, James 
Monroe, Thomas Marshall, Patrick Henry and Thomas 
Jefferson. Blit the final vote of the Legislature unani¬ 
mously selected George Washington and Robert E. Lee. 

The growing respect and admiration of Robert E. 
Lee by the North, as well as the South, is evidenced by 
the recent erection of a heroic statue of Lee on the bat¬ 
tlefield of Gettysburg. The President of the United 
States delivered the dedication address on the occasion of 
its unveiling. 

Goodness and bravery, leadership and generalship, 
citizenship and patriotism, purity and devoutness were 
sanctified and hallowed by the greatness of spirit, nobility 
of soul and unpretentious modesty of the favorite and 
greatest hero of the South—Robert E. Lee. 































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© Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. 

COL. EOOSEYELT AS THE NATION WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HIM. 





THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


THE UNSTAMPEDABLE DRIVING AMERICAN STATESMAN, THE 
EMBODIMENT OF INTELLIGENT CITIZENSHIP AND 
IDEAL PATRIOTISM. 

1858-1919. 

T heodore Roosevelts life exemplifies 

that a man in this country of opportunity can be¬ 
come eminently successful in many vocations. 

He was a rancher, hunter, author, army officer, cabinet 
official, governor, vice president and president of the 
United States. In all these fields of human endeavor he 
was successful. 

His life furnishes a remarkable example of distinct a- 
chievement in varied vocations. He was a universal genius. 
He was the most prolific and myriad minded, with a wider 
scope of knowledge than any man that has ever occupied 
the White House. Roosevelt’s life is the record of a typi¬ 
cal American in whom the principles of citizenship and 
patriotism reached extraordinary development. 

Linked with the physical and intellectual accomplish¬ 
ments of Roosevelt was unusual moral activity which is 
necessary for a well rounded man. Honesty of purpose 
and an elevated sense of public duty were leading features 
of his character. He had a profound respect for his fel- 
lowmen reinforcing his love for his home, country and 
God. 

His passion for settling national and international is¬ 
sues led him to act hastily at times, but his moral energy 
and granitic integrity was of greater value than any a- 
(255) 


256 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


mount of policy and expediency which too often char¬ 
acterize politicians. Roosevelt’s motto was—Thoroughly 
plan the work in hand, with immediateness of action, con¬ 
tinuing everlastingly at it until the task is completed. 

Roosevelt closed one period and opened another, per¬ 
sonifying the best of both. He closed the period of na¬ 
tional deterioration of the Nation’s morale that followed 
the Civil Wiar; and opened the era of the “Square Deal.” 

There was heroic blood of the south as well as the north 
flowing in the veins of Theodore Roosevelt. He was born 
in New York City, Oct. 27, 1858. A dogged perseverance 
and an indomitable will built a strong man from a frail, 
asthmatic child, moreover it was the cultivating of a de¬ 
terminant mind that made him a fearless doer. 

The Roosevelts were one of the oldest Dkitch-American 
families. Teddy was a direct descendant of Claes Mar- 
tenzon Rosenwelt, who came to America in 1649. (The 
present spelling was adopted in 1750). The family for 
generations were successful business men, in few instances 
did any of them enter politics. Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., 
was influential. Early in life he retired from active busi¬ 
ness and devoted his entire time to philanthropy. “The 
best man I ever knew,” his son wrote of him in later years. 
WLen he died the flags of New York City were lowered 
at half mast in honor of their modest kind hearted private 
citizen. 

Theodore, Junior’s mother was Martha Bullock, a 
daughter of Major Bullock, a brave Confederate officer 
of the Civil War, and granddaughter of General Daniel 
Stewart of Revolutionary fame. Teddy’s mother was 
proud of her southern aristocratic blood. Her son testified, 
She was a sweet, gracious, beautiful southern woman, a 
delightful companion and beloved by everyone, but she 
was an unreconstructed rebel’ to the day of her death.” 

Young Roosevelt’s life was a golden link between the 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


257 


north and south. Neither family connection nor the pro¬ 
pitious times in which he lived could have given the Roose¬ 
velt we know, except for those extraordinary qualities of 
a clear head, a true heart and a devout spirit which the 
world now recognizes as a legacy and heritage. 

At the time of his birth, Civil Wlar clouds were soon to 
break in fury over the country. The war ran its bloody 
course and came to an end before he was old enough to 
go to school. But the dark shadow of the Civil War long 
lay upon the land and was scarcely lifted at the time Roose¬ 
velt entered the White House. At once he began to he 
a mighty influence in regenerating the country that was 
deteriorated by the effects that naturally follow as an 
aftermath of war. 

The boy, Teddy, foreshadowed the man he came to he. 
As a boy he made collections and maintained what he 
proudly called “The Roosevelt Museum,” collecting speci¬ 
mens along the beach, on the brinks of the rivers and 
ponds of Manhattan Island. Nothing in the neighbor¬ 
hood of New York escaped this eager young naturalist, 
a boyish delight that became an avocation in his manhood, 
and led him on excursions through the Rocky Mountains, 
to the jungles of Africa and to the unexplored regions of 
South America. 

There were other fields—many others—beckoning to 
this ambitious youth, he entered all of them without a 
failure. 

In school he was distinguished above his fellows, not in 
intellect, but in faithful devotion to duty and readiness to 
perform hard work. No task was too irksome for him. He 
was “a tall thin lad with bright blue eyes and legs like 
pipestems.” 

Christian F. Reisner in “Roosevelt’s Religion,” relates 
an incident that shows the turning point in Roosevelt’s life. 
“He was sent to Moose Head Lake in Maine to relieve 


258 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


him of asthma. While enroute, on the steamer deck, 
two boys amused themselves by teasing this ‘High Brow’ 
from New York. He attempted to fight them but was 
easily subdued. He determined to get strength and 
upon returning home took strenuously to gymnastic exer¬ 
cises, giving special attention to boxing. Thus began the 
training that gave him a powerful physique.” 

“In addition to physical frailty he was also timid and 
very retiring, afraid of shadows and even trembling be¬ 
fore cows. His deliverance came from reading one of 
Margots’ books where the captain of a small British man 
of war affirmed, ‘that almost every man is frightened when 
he goes into action, but that the course to follow was for 
a man to keep such a grip on himself that he can act just 
as if he were not frightened.’ This captain affirmed that 
ultimately pretense would come to reality.” Roosevelt 
testifies that he tried it and where he was afraid at first of 
everything, ranging from grizzly bears to mean horses and 
gun fighters, he gradually ceased to he afraid of any¬ 
thing. 

His physique and courage were self-made and his in¬ 
tellect was self-developed; his career was the output of 
his own energy. His daring enthusiasm in everything he 
undertook, worked mightily in making the man. His un¬ 
tiring industry and ever readiness to tackle the task in hand 
was a factor in making Roosevelt the most conspicuous 
man of his time. He was constantly in the lime-light 
from the day he selected politics as a stage on which to 
star the drama of his life. 

The impartial historian must take cognizance of the fact 
that Roosevelt was never averse to exposing himself to the 
public view. This trait was conspicuously manifested at 
Harvard, as Inglehart said: 

“There was something about the young student that 
was spectacular, that made people look at him and see what 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


259 


he was about. They wanted to see him when he boxed 
and they watched him jump the rope. They looked at the 
red and blue athletic stockings which he wore and because 
they did make fun and demanded that he take them off, 
he the more persistently wore them. The whole college 
knew about the stuffed birds and game he killed, which 
decorated his apartment. They followed him with their 
eyes when on his favorite horse he dashed through the 
streets of Cambridge and along the country roads. He 
was in search of health and for scientific knowledge on his 
trips on horseback and on foot, yet, whatever he did, and 
wherever he went, he was the object of attention and of 
deep interest. This was one of his most marked charac¬ 
teristics which accompanied him throughout his life.” 

Roosevelt always assumed an air of importance. He 
had a grand way about him, because of his conscious 
strength. He valued himself at a high rate and others did 
the same thing. But Roosevelt was an unselfish man and 
never pushed himself unseemly ahead of others. He saw 
William J. Bryan made Colonel and approved it, likewise 
he saw Leonard Wood become Colonel of the Rough Rid¬ 
ers which he organized, while he took second place and 
only succeeded Wood when Wood was promoted. Roose¬ 
velt was a big hearted, generous, unselfish man. 

In the fall of 1876 he entered Harvard University, 
where he devoted much time to the study of natural his¬ 
tory, but entered into athletics for his physical develop¬ 
ment. His classmates tell a story of his skipping a rope 
to develop his legs, thereby starting a vogue in the college 
for rope skipping. He weighed 150 pounds but was a 
star light weight boxer in spite of the hazardous handicap 
of having his spectacles lashed to his head, but with Roose¬ 
velt it was sport for sport’s sake, he played games for the 
moral victory of good sportmanship. 

Just before entering college, when on a vacation in 


260 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


Maine, with an old guide, Bill Sewall, Roosevelt developed 
a love for the woods, which later led him to the west to be 
a ranchman, hunter and explorer. 

Soon after graduating from Harvard in 1880, he mar¬ 
ried Alice Hathaway Lee, the sweetheart of his college 
days—the daughter of a Boston family. At this time he 
had no chosen vocation. His definite aim was not to live 
a life of indolence, so he entered Columbia University for 
the purpose of studying law, having no intention of fol¬ 
lowing a legal career. 

His father had died while Teddy was attending Har¬ 
vard, and left him ample means for his support. He might 
have lived a life of ease, but his father had taught him to be 
industrious and he was too full of energy to follow a life 
of idleness. He often quoted this from Tennyson’s 
“Ulysses,” 

“How dull it is to pause, to make an end 
To rust unburnished, 

Not to shine in use; 

As tho’ to breathe, were life.” 

This was the doctrine of the strenuous life which he 
preached and practiced. His idea was to perform hard, 
necessary tasks, not to sit hack and criticize. 

When he entered Columbia University at twenty-two 
years of age, he decided to enter politics. His companions 
who belonged to New York’s Four Hundred, laughed at 
him. They argued that no gentleman should go into poli¬ 
tics as he would have to associate with hack-drivers, saloon¬ 
keepers and men of that type. Theodore retorted: “They 
are helping to govern the City, you are not.” 

The young aspirant to public honors knew so little of 
politics, that he had to inquire how to join the Republican 
Club. Years after when he had become a statesman, some 
vicious newspaper charged him with being a politician. 
His reply was: “I should be ashamed if I were not a 
politician.” 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


261 


In politics he not only preached, but practiced, one of 
his pet theories:—“He who has not wealth owes his first 
duty to his family; but he who has means owes his time 
to the State.” At the time Roosevelt entered upon his 
public career politics in New York was under the con¬ 
trol of district bosses. Roosevelt was the laughing stock 
of his friends when he formed a district political club and 
ran for the Legislature. He was elected as a member of 
the New York State Legislature by an original system 
of a house to house canvass. 

At the time of his election he was only twenty-three 
years of age, the youngest member of the Legislature. 
The next year the Democrats led by Grover Cleveland 
carried New York State by two hundred thousand ma¬ 
jority. Roosevelt was one of the few Republicans re¬ 
elected. Upon his re-election he was; chosen leader of the 
minority. 

In 1884 Roosevelt won his first notable success in poli¬ 
tics. He was elected Delegate at Large from New York 
to the Republican National Convention, and was made 
Chairman of the New York Delegation. 

He served three terms in the State Legislature and upon 
his third election the Republicans were again in power. 
He was defeated for the speakership of the House be¬ 
cause the bosses could not trust him to do their bidding. 
He had already shown signs of independence when on 
several occasions he supported Grover Cleveland, a Demo¬ 
crat. Roosevelt fought for reforms considered by the 
bosses, silk stocking freaks, but his ability was undeniable 
and the militant young politician created a stir and a gen¬ 
eral house-cleaning in the City Government of New York. 
It resulted in the reduction of big salaries and the stopping 
of paying unearned fees. Roosevelt’s three terms in the 
Assembly advanced him to the leadership of the Republi¬ 
can party in the State. 


262 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


As a member of the Legislature his conduct was up¬ 
right and startling. He demanded that a certain judge 
be impeached. This attracted public notice to this youth¬ 
ful audacious reformer. He was a strong-headed, self- 
willed, opinionated young man. Speaking of his services 
in the Legislature Roosevelt says in his autobiography: C I 
suppose my head was swelled. It would not be strange 
if it was. I stood out for my own opinions, alone I took 
the best mugwump stand; my own conscience, my own 
judgment were to decide all things. I would listen to no 
arguments, no advice. I took the isolated peak on every 
issue, and my people left me. When I looked around, be¬ 
fore the session was well under way, I found myself alone. 
I was absolutely deserted. I looked the ground over and 
made up my mind that there were several other excellent 
people there, with honest opinions of the right, even though 
they were different from mine. I turned in to help them, 
and they turned to and gave me a hand. And so we were 
able to get things done.” 

Two great sorrows befell Roosevelt in 1884, the death 
of his wife and mother. Bill Sewall, his old guide of boy¬ 
hood days in the Maine Woods, said: “When Theodore 
lost his wife and mother, it almost unbalanced his mind. 
But he never noticed or was aff ected by the loss of material 
things. We lost half of our cattle by drought, snow, and 
the unfair tactics of the big herdowners. He lost nearly 
$50,000 by the ranch venture, but he was never blue or 
complained about that. He divided all the profits but 
endured all the losses alone. He had absolutely no instinct 
for money. He allowed that to die while he developed 
instead, the instinct for service which alone appealed to 
him. He expected to stay on the ranch permanently when 
he first came, but God had other plans. When he left the 
ranch he was clean bone, muscle and grit and physically 
strong enough to be anything he wanted to be from presi¬ 
dent, down” 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


263 


With a heavy heart, with a jaw firmly set and with a 
mind eager for diversion and exertion young Roosevelt 
turned his eyes toward the western sun and his steps toward 
her plains and hills. He owned the Chimney Rutte Ranch 
near Medora, North Dakota. It was here he began ranch¬ 
ing in earnest and entered wholehearted into the life of a 
plainsman. 

In the fall of 1886 he was called back to New York by 
being nominated by the Independents, for Mayor of New 
York City. The constituency was so strongly Democratic 
that it was a losing game from the beginning, hut Roose¬ 
velt entered the campaign with his usual indomitable zeal 
and after the expected defeat sailed for England declar¬ 
ing he had thoroughly enjoyed the “lively canvass and had 
a bully time.” 

In London he married Miss Edith Kermit Carow, a 
New York woman, a descendant of an old English and 
Huguenot family. A few months after his marriage, he 
returned to New York and took the stump for General 
Harrison during the campaign of 1888. After the elec¬ 
tion of President Harrison, Roosevelt was appointed a 
member of the Civil Service Commission. This was an 
unpopular office but it gave him an opportunity to aggres¬ 
sively stand for reforms. He held the office from 1889-95. 
In 1895 William L. Strong was elected Mayor of New 
York and appointed Roosevelt President of the New York 
Police Commission. Never dreaming as Inglehart says: 
“That he was getting such a buzz-saw on his hands as he 
did in the intense, irresistible, insistent, fearless fighter and 
real reformer as Theodore Roosevelt.” 

One of the first things the new commissioner did, was 
to stun the Mayor as well as his friends and foes by issuing 
an order that all saloons should be closed the next Sun¬ 
day. This created a tremendous excitement which con¬ 
tinued throughout the two years he held this office. He 


264 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


eradicated corruption; stopped the payment of money for 
promotion to the men higher up; he kept in touch with 
the policemen on the street, and established merit as the 
only basis for favors. He called himself dead politically, 
when he realized the unpopularity that resulted from his 
drastic program. Two-thirds of the leaders of Tammany 
Hall were in some way connected with the liquor busi¬ 
ness and former commissioners had never applied the Sun¬ 
day law to friendly places. 

A protest parade, organized by those opposed to his 
policies turned out to be a farce. While the Commissioner 
sat in the grandstand, conspicuous with his big spectacles 
and broad smile, he heard shouts of “Bully for Teddy” 
that counterbalanced the huge placards carried in the 
parade, reading: “Send the Police Czar to Russia.” His 
clean-up reached broader fields than saloons. He made 
a crusade on unfit tenements, dug up an obsolete law and 
seized at least a hundred over-crowded, diseased tenements 
in the poor districts. In one instance the death rate of a 
single neighborhood was reduced from 39 to 16 in a 
thousand. 

The Commissioner’s vigilance and vigor is unparalleled 
and many adventures are told of him as he tramped 
through obscure districts of New York to find out for him¬ 
self the actual conditions. Policemen claim that it was here 
that his prominent teeth first became notorious. It was 
not an unusual event for Roosevelt to walk into a group 
of loitering policemen and demand, “which of you is cov¬ 
ering the beat?” Newspaper artists depicted cartoons of 
scared policemen seeing ghosts in the form of a huge set 
of teeth grimly gleaming in the dark streets. 

On April 19, 1897, Roosevelt received from President 
McKinley the appointment of Assistant Secretary of the 
Navy. He had asked for this appointment, breaking his 
record of never asking favors. This office was considered 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


265 


unimportant, but Roosevelt was especially attached to 
it by his continual interest in the American Navy. He 
also foresaw trouble with Spain, and with his usual eager¬ 
ness to serve, realized the necessity of “sharpening the 
tools of the Navy,” and strengthening this department 
of national defense. Before he took office Spain had 
accused the United States of helping the rebellious and 
oppressed Cubans, in spite of the fact that our ships were 
policing the coast for the purpose of preventing ship¬ 
ment of arms to Cuba. While the Assistant Naval Sec¬ 
retary was trudging through tangled masses of political 
red tape, re-organizing the system of rank and promo¬ 
tion among naval officers and shocking Congress by using 
up powder for much needed target practice, the battle¬ 
ship Maine was blown up in the harbor of Havana. It 
was a defiant blow in the face of America. 

Roosevelt’s ridiculed prophecy was vindicated, but there 
were still many sarcastic remarks among army and navy 
officials. A joke penetrated the club at Washington that 
Roosevelt had the whole war programme mapped out. 

His preparedness measures were undaunted and he con¬ 
tinued the buying and equipping of ships to such a degree 
of efficiency that it made possible the deadly blow at 
Manila where Dewey won his signal victory. If the War 
Department had been equally foresighted there would have 
been a different and shorter story of the Spanish-Ameri¬ 
can War. 

John D. Long, Secretary of Navy under whom Roose¬ 
velt served as Assistant and as acting Secretary in Long’s 
absence, gives interesting data as to Roosevelt’s doings 
while at the head of the department. Secretary Long 
wrote in his diary concerning Roosevelt’s conduct on one 
occasion while he was in charge: “In the evening Roose¬ 
velt came around, whom I had left acting Secretary dur¬ 
ing the afternoon. He is so enthusiastic and loyal that 


266 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


he is in certain respects invaluable, yet I lack confidence 
in his good judgment and discretion. He goes off so 
impulsively and if I have a good night to-night, I feel that 
I should be back in the department rather than take a 
vacation.” The following evening Mr. Long again wrote 
in his diary: “I find that Roosevelt in his precipitate 
way has come very near causing more of an explosion than 
happened to the Maine. I really think he is hardly fit to 
be entrusted with the responsibility of the Department at 
this critical time. He seems to be thoroughly loyal, but the 
very devil seemed to possess him yesterday afternoon. 
Having the authority for that time of Acting Secretary, he 
immediately began to launch peremptory orders—dis¬ 
tributing ships, ordering ammunition, which there is no 
means to move, sending messages to Congress for im¬ 
mediate legislation, ordering guns from the Navy Yard 
at Washington to New York. 

“He has gone at things like a bull in a china shop. It 
shows how the best fellow in the world—and with splendid 
capacities—worse than no use, if he lacks a cool head and 
careful discretion.” 

Again Secretary Long makes entry in his diary: “My 
Assistant Secretary, Roosevelt, has determined upon re¬ 
signing in order to go into the army and take part in the 
war. He has been of great use; a man of undoubted 
energy and force and thoroughly honest, which is the main 
thing. He has lost his head; this unutterable folly of de¬ 
serting the past where he is of the most service and running 
off to ride a horse, and probably, brush mosquitos from his 
neck on the Florida lands. And yet how absurd this all 
sounds if by some gift of fortune he should accomplish 
some great thing and strike a very high mark.” 

At some subsequent date, after Roosevelt had struck a 
very high mark, Mr. Long turned back to this page in his 
diary and added this foot-note: “Roosevelt was right. 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


267 


and we, his friends, were all wrong. His going into the 
army led straight to the presidency.” 

When war was declared Roosevelt was offered a posi¬ 
tion on the War Board, but refused. He longed to 
enter the fight. It was an opportune time to practice 
what he had preached, and on May 6, 1898, he was sworn 
in as Lieutenant-Colonel of the Rough Riders. It was a 
regiment of his own. The young Assistant Secretary had 
a tremendous following. After various futile attempts 
for active service, he turned to the west to recruit an army 
from his familiar plains and mountains, and the telegraph 
wires were hot with offers of service. They came from 
every corner of the United States. There was never a 
more unique regiment of soldiers than the personnel of 
the Rough Riders. They ranged from rugged, excited 
cowboys and New York policemen to college graduates 
and members of the fashionable clubs of the east. There 
were fifty men sent from the east to join the western vol¬ 
unteers that were being mustered in at San Antonio, Texas. 
This motley regiment went into strict military discipline 
and training. When word came that they were as fit as a 
veteran army, the entire regiment went wild with excite¬ 
ment at the opportunity of going with the first army of 
invasion. 

Leonard Wood and Theodore Roosevelt formed a firm 
friendship that ripened into life-long devotion. Col. Wood 
and Lieut.-Col. Roosevelt found that the recruiting and 
training of their Rough Riders was a small task compared 
to getting them to Cuba. There were days of delayed 
travel over the poorly organized southern railroads in the 
heat of May, 1898. There were weeks of delay in Tampa 
and finally orders came, when half the regiment with hut 
few horses embarked for Cuba. There was congestion 
and complications at Port Tampa; no provisions, con¬ 
flicting orders, no authority. Three regiments had been 


268 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


ordered aboard the Yucatan and it was first come first 
served. Roosevelt held to the gang plank by sheer strength 
and rushed all his men aboard. Then another delay, the 
old rickety rattle-trap boat lay in the steaming bay of 
Tampa for a week. Wood and Roosevelt accepted no 
luxuries which they were not able to give to their men, but 
the spirit of the Rough Riders maintained constant en¬ 
thusiasm. They landed in Cuba under a bombardment of 
Spanish guns. These sturdy plainsmen were rather a 
pathetic sight as they marched on foot to the front. They 
could have ridden twice around Cuba undaunted, but they 
were completely nonplussed without their horses. 

Their first fight was in a dense jungle. The regiment 
had come unexpectedly upon a Spanish outpost and the 
enemy’s smokeless powder made it seem as though the 
attack was from an invisible foe. The Riders fell like 
clay pigeons, not knowing where to shoot, until Richard 
Harding Davis, the brilliant young newspaper correspond¬ 
ent, located a row of hats in the glade. The Americans 
dashed through the waist-high grass and made such a fierce 
attack that the Spaniards took to cover. Many a tale of 
heroism may be found in that bitter battle of Las Guasi- 
mas, although it ended in only eight Americans killed and 
thirty-four wounded. 

When orders came to march on, Colonel Wood was 
placed in command of the brigade and Roosevelt was pro¬ 
moted to take his place as Colonel of the Rough Riders. 
The brave Colonel had many narrow escapes; he was never 
known to accept any protection or comfort not accorded 
a private. The American heart thrills at the dramatic 
battle of San Juan Hill where Roosevelt, without military 
orders, led the Riders and straggling regiments of Regu¬ 
lars in a charge which captured the hill. This battle stands 
out as one of the most spectacular battles in American 
History. 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


269 


The officials at Washington were prevailed upon to recall 
the American army in Manila, and the Rough Riders 
landed in New York, welcomed by a throng of admirers 
and hero-worshipers. Colonel Roosevelt was the man of 
the hour. 

The political bosses of New York found it easier to 
reckon with Roosevelt as a reformer of politics, than with 
Roosevelt, the hero of the Rough Riders. 

Every war in American history has developed popular 
heroes that later became Presidents. The Revolution sent 
George Washington to the presidential chair; the War of 
1812 Andrew Jackson and William Henry Harrison; 
the Mexican War Taylor and Scott; the Civil War re¬ 
sulted in giving Grant the highest office of our country 
as well as shaping the political careers of Hays, Garfield, 
Benjamin Harrison and McKinley. 

Although the Spanish-American War was inconsequen¬ 
tial as compared with other marshall conflicts, it gave to 
this country the man who was to become an international 
character, and an example of a typical American. 

The Rough Riders were scarcely mustered out when 
Roosevelt, with characteristic frankness, announced his 
candidacy for Governor of New York. The Republican 
party was afraid to nominate him and afraid not to, but 
his nomination seemed the lesser of the evils. There was 
an exciting campaign, although it was rumored that Sena¬ 
tor Platt controlled the bosses of the State, and held the 
yea and nay of New York politics, it was by Roosevelt’s 
personal efforts, specifically, his novel and thorough 
stumping the State, making uncompromising and force¬ 
ful speeches, that won the victory. 

Within a few weeks after his inauguration he was mas¬ 
ter of the situation. He had become masterful by Roose- 
veltian methods, new and unprecedented. As Governor of 
New York and President of the United States he did not 
follow precedence but made them. 


270 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


As governor his greatest accomplishment was a bill tax¬ 
ing public franchises. This bill aroused the corporations 
against him to such an extent that they combined with 
other interests, especially the bosses who were antagonistic 
to Roosevelt. They decided that the only safe place for 
such a troublesome person was to bury him, by nominat¬ 
ing him Vice President of the United States. 

When Roosevelt appeared at the Republican National 
Convention, as a delegate at large from New York, he was 
hailed with outbursts of enthusiasm. He made the speech 
nominating William McKinley for President. After Mc¬ 
Kinley received the nomination, the delegates unanimously 
roared Roosevelt’s nomination for Vice President. 

For eight weeks he campaigned the country. Even in 
the enemy states he was undaunted, declaring: “I am for 
the protective tariff, the Gold Standard, for Expansion 
and for the Honor of the Flag.” 

On November 6, 1900, McKinley and Roosevelt were 
elected. They were in office scarcely six months when the 
assassination of President McKinley, at a reception in the 
Music Temple at the Pan American Exposition, in Buf¬ 
falo, placed Roosevelt at the head of the nation. 

He took the pledge of office in Buff alo, at the home of 
Judge Wilcox, on September 14,1901. There were forty 
men present; there was not a dry eye among those strong 
men. Sentences were spoken in half tones, broken off by 
emotion, many of them were left unspoken. With a tremor 
in his voice, Roosevelt took the solemn oath of office. In 
all America’s history there has not been so silent and heavy- 
hearted inauguration. 

Secretary Root, who had been present twenty years be¬ 
fore, at the only parallel occasion when Vice President 
Arthur was sworn in after the assassination of Garfield, 
was so overcome with emotion that he was blinded by tears, 
and unable to speak. It would be difficult indeed to find 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


271 


a more complex situation than the one in which Presi¬ 
dent Roosevelt found himself. McKinley was universally 
beloved. To fill his place was a Herculean task. 

No one realized more than Roosevelt the difficulties be¬ 
fore him. His first move was that of a diplomatist; he 
re-appointed McKinley’s Cabinet, man for man. In spite 
of the titterings and forebodings of the public, Roosevelt 
with resolute skill, won the conservatives; moreover, to all 
intents and purposes, the McKinley Cabinet and Admin¬ 
istration became Rooseveltian. 

There were the usual intermittent changes, Elihu Root 
retired for business reasons but returned at great personal 
sacrifice to fill the place of Secretary of State, left vacant 
by the death of John Hay. Taft was summoned from the 
Philippines to take a place in the Cabinet; eventually he 
promoted to the Cabinet Cortelyou, McKinley’s private 
secretary. 

When Roosevelt became the chief executive of the 
United States he was forty-two years of age, the youngest 
man that ever occupied the White House. 

Every poor country boy had been stirred by the story 
of Abraham Lincoln, who had climbed the golden stairs to 
the White House. Roosevelt gave an example to the rich 
city boys how the rich, as well as the poor boy could ascend 
the ladder of fame and power. 

Roosevelt showed no favoritism, and declared that, “The 
Door of the White House shall swing open as easily for 
the poor as for the rich, and not one bit easier.” 

As President, Roosevelt’s reforms ranged from settling 
coal strikes to prosecuting steel trusts and gigantic railroad 
mergers. 

Speaker Thomas B. Reed called him a man of “Blood 
and Iron,” yet, with all his grit Roosevelt seemed more 
of the Blood than of the Iron. During his presidency he 
visited every state in the Union; he never lost sight of the 


272 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


importance of the personal touch. A characteristic ex¬ 
ample of his sincerity of purpose was a remark, humbly 
made, after a narrow escape from death in a street car 
accident near Fitchbay, Massachusetts, “I thank God, that 
I escaped death, yet I do not fear death as much as I do 
that I may make some mistake appertaining to the welfare 
of the country.” 

He never lost sight of that great democratic force, 
“Public Opinion.” He first appealed to it when Congress 
failed to pass the Bill for Reciprocity to Cuba. His ap¬ 
peal to Congress was so strong that when the next session 
opened, the members came back with instructions from 
home to back up the President. 

Roosevelt refused to be intrigued into factional quarrels. 
He was as direct in his dealings with individuals as he was 
to the country at large. There was little surprise when 
he announced his candidacy for President, but there was 
a good-natured awe at his bombastic and frank way of 
doing it. Other candidates had hemmed and hawed, but 
Roosevelt simply said point blank that he wanted the 
nomination and that he wished those who favored it would 
say so. 

The Republican National Convention at Chicago went 
through the form of a unanimous nomination, his election 
was a foregone conclusion. 

Roosevelt was stronger than his party. Wlhen news of 
his overwhelming victory reached the White House, he 
made the statement that he would under no circumstance 
run again. He was inaugurated March 4, 1905, for his 
second and last term. It was a term with “Prosperity” 
as its watchword. He was bent on giving every one a 
square deal, to fill the rich man’s purse and the poor man’s 
pail without partiality. He declared, “The Labor Unions 
shall have a square deal, the corporations shall have a square 
deal, all American citizens shall have a square deal,” 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


273 


It was the beginning of an open breach between capital 
and labor. There had been an under current of unrest and 
dissatisfaction, but no one had ventured to cry loud enough 
to greatly disturb business. The stock ticker ceased to be 
the throbbing pulse of the Nation. Roosevelt tackled 
such giant problems as the reform of capital and labor, 
trusts and railway mergers. 

Heretofore there had been no Theodore Roosevelt to 
reckon with. Here was a man who stood in no awe of 
wealth, who had the courage of his political, as well as 
economic convictions, who had frequently and vehemently 
declared himself against lawless money—monopolies. 

Within a few months after he became President, Roose¬ 
velt inaugurated the movement to establish Departments 
of Commerce and Labor in the Cabinet. He appointed 
the first Secretaries of Labor and Commerce. 

The first conflict between the Government, as repre¬ 
sented by Roosevelt and the Trusts, in the concrete form 
of the Northern Securities Company, was a battle which 
raged in court for nearly two years. Roosevelt was im¬ 
pervious to the bribes and threats of capital. 

His fields of action were not confined to the United 
States. He was confronted with many knotty foreign 
problems. The most important being the Panama Canal 
project. The Government of Panama was in the hands 
of machine manipulators, who rejected a treaty with the 
United States for the construction of the canal. He was 
determined that his vision of linking the Atlantic and 
Pacific Oceans should be actualized. 

The American Government had been kept advised of 
the Colombian situation; that alone could account for the 
presence of America’s warships in the neighborhood of 
Panama at the time of its revolt against Colombia. Colom¬ 
bia could not conquer her rebellious states against the naval 
assistance of the United States, consequently a treaty was 


274* 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


negotiated with the new Republic of Panama. Six months 
later the Canal Commission secured full control of the 
Panama Canal Zone under a perpetual lease and began 
operations. 

He revived the peace tribunal at The Hague, when it 
was dying of general neglect, by submitting to them a dis¬ 
pute between the United States and Mexico, known as 
the Pius Claim. He was the direct means of referring to 
The Hague the dispute between Venezuela and Great 
Britain, after it had come to a crisis by German and British 
guns bombarding Venezuelan’s Port because of certain 
unpaid claims. 

It was his successful activity in peace propaganda that 
was instrumental in his being presented with the Nobel 
Peace Prize of 1905-06, by unanimous vote. The Nobel 
Peace Prize is $40,000 given annually to the person who has 
done most to promote the peace of the world. Roosevelt 
used the money as a foundation for a permanent fund to 
promote a Righteous Industrial Peace between Capital 
and Labor. 

Later in his administration he handled the Japanese- 
California Immigration and School question with unprec¬ 
edented frankness and surprising success. 

Theodore Roosevelt sought counsel from every reliable 
source. When an important decision was to he made, he 
summoned all available men who were experts and au¬ 
thorities on the subject in hand. He wanted all angles of 
the question before making a decision. His cautious in¬ 
vestigation of important questions was counterbalanced 
by a quick fire rapidity of answers and decisions in all 
things of routine character. 

Of the hundreds of friendly and inimicable estimates 
of Roosevelt’s character, John Hay after he had been in 
Roosevelt’s Cabinet three years, said: “Roosevelt is 
prompt and energetic but he takes infinite pains to get at 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


2 75 


the facts before he acts. In all the crises in which he has 
been accused of undue haste, his action has been the result 
of long meditation.” 

During his term of office he was looked upon by the other 
nations of the world as the highest type of national lead¬ 
ership. 

Mr. John Morley, the great British author and states¬ 
man, said that he had seen two tremendous forces of value 
in America, the Niagara Falls and President Theodore 
Roosevelt, and added, “I am not sure which is the more 
wonderful.” The English Review* of Reviews printed this 
of him: “Take Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Rhodes, Lord Charles 
Beresford and John Burns, boil them down until you get 
the residuum essence into an American Dutchman and you 
have something like the new President of the United 
States.” 

Roosevelt’s place at Sagamore Hill was to him what Mt. 
Vernon was to George Washington. He spent his vaca¬ 
tions there and real vacations they were in spite of devot¬ 
ing half of every day to executive work. The remarkable 
fact about Roosevelt’s life was that he had time for every¬ 
thing. He had time for his family, time for sports, time 
for worship and time for reading. He read an entire hook 
with the ease and speed with which the average person 
glances over the morning newspaper. A life could not 
have been lived more rounded out, more completely de¬ 
veloped in all the varied ways of life. 

Some men have written a dozen books, hut few have 
written good books along with a life branching out into 
a dozen other fields of success. Roosevelt wrote and pub¬ 
lished: The Winning of the West, Hunting Trips of a 
Ranchman, History of the Naval War of 1812, The Life 
of Thomas Hart Benton, The Life of Gouverneur Morris, 
Ranch Life and Hunting Trails, A History of New York, 
The Wilderness Hunter, American Ideals, The Rough 


276 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


Riders, Life of Oliver Cromwell, The Strenuous Life, 
and Pear God and Take Your Own Part—thirty-seven 
thought evoking books. To this list of complete works, 
may be added various collaborations with others on books, 
to say nothing of innumerable newspaper and magazine 
articles. 

The last months of his administration were intermingled 
with political upheavals so great as to split the Republican 
Party, but Roosevelt retained his courageous spirit and 
stood by his convictions to the very end. 

The members of the Annias Club, a coined name for 
Roosevelt’s enemies, were usually men who had never 
known him. He was bitterly hated by them but beloved 
by all who knew him. He was accused of opportunism 
but not by those who knew the depths of his soul. His 
accusers, of being a vote hunter, admitted that he never 
compromised himself for a vote. It was in the south that 
he denounced the Democratic Party; in Dletroit, that he 
blazed forth against pacifism; in France that he denounced 
race suicide; in England he assailed England s Egyptian 
Policy. 

His personal magnetism combined with his tremendous 
mental and physical versatility makes him a colossal type 
of modern manhood. His achievements and influence 
makes him the greatest American of our age. His patri¬ 
otism stands as an unparalleled example. Many criti¬ 
cized his intensity but none doubted his sincerity. 

After he turned the White House over to his friend 
William Howard Taft, whom he had made President, he 
sailed for east Africa in a scientific expedition for the 
Smithsonian Institute. This was not a sportsman’s holiday 
but a serious campaign far into the jungles to make ex¬ 
periments and bring back specimens for the National 
Museum. The expedition was such a tremendous success 
that enthusiastic naturalists have declared that his name 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


277 


would shine on the metal tables for his extraordinary 
etymological exhibits long after it has become dim in politi¬ 
cal legends. After a year in the deserts and jungles, 
Roosevelt’s return to civilization was a triumphal proces¬ 
sion. He visited Rome, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Brussels, 
Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Christiania, Lon¬ 
don. Royalty entertained him as the foremost states¬ 
man; scientific societies besieged him with requests to ad¬ 
dress them as an authority on Natural History; universi¬ 
ties honored him with degrees. His return to New York 
was that of a conquering hero, the City was in an uproar. 
The tide swept him back into politics and the exhausting 
political struggles of the years between 1910-12 were per¬ 
haps the least pleasant and the least to be remembered ones 
of his life. 

Although Roosevelt had given Taft the Presidency, a 
coolness had arisen between them which developed into 
antagonism. In 1912 seven Progressive Governors united 
in a demand that Roosevelt become again a candidate for 
the presidency. He threw his hat in the ring, and outlined 
his progressive creed at Columbus, Ohio. It was called, 
“A Charter of Democracy” and was so radical that it 
alarmed conservatives. The first direct primary held in 
Illinois went to Roosevelt by such an overwhelming ma¬ 
jority that it openly and definitely split the Republican 
party. Taft took the stump against Roosevelt and when 
the Republican Convention met in Chicago, feeling ran so 
high that the political world expected a riot. Nothing had 
compared to it since the Democratic Convention in Char¬ 
leston in 1860. 

When the National Committee passed on contested cases 
it threw out nearly all the Roosevelt delegates. Roosevelt 
demanded that the Taft men whose seats were contested, 
should not be allowed to vote on each other’s cases. This 
was refused and Roosevelt called on his followers to re- 


278 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


frain from voting at all. When the Convention adjourned, 
Roosevelt’s backers proceeded to Orchestra Hall where 
he was informally placed in nomination as a bolting can¬ 
didate. In August a real Convention was held and the 
Bull Moose party formally nominated Roosevelt for Presi¬ 
dent with Hiram W. Johnson of California as Vice Presi¬ 
dent. 

Roosevelt stumped practically every state in the Union 
and carried five states against Taft’s two. He was not 
elected, but received a much larger popular vote than did 
the nominee of the Republican party. 

It was during this stormy campaign that Roosevelt was 
shot by a crank, named John Shrauk, just as he was to 
deliver a speech in the Auditorium in Milwaukee. This 
incident affords another example of his astounding physi¬ 
cal courage. Not knowing how serious his wound was, 
Roosevelt finished his speech before he would consent to 
go to the hospital. 

At the end of the campaign he was invited to make ad¬ 
dresses in South America. He prolonged the tour in an 
expedition into the Tropics to study its birds, animals 
and vegetation. It was during this expedition that his 
party discovered and descended an unknown branch of the 
Amazon River. This River Doubt is now called “The 
Rio Theodoro.” His party underwent untold hardships, 
and Roosevelt returned to United States in 1914 weak¬ 
ened by jungle fever and scant rations during their ex- 
plorings, as well as a severe injury in his leg, cut by a rock 
when he was thrown from a canoe. 

But physical handicaps were thrown aside by this strong 
man’s fortitude. He was partially blind as a result of 
a boxing match while in the White House, and was con¬ 
stantly handicapped by huge spectacles, From a puny 
boy he had made himself a man of such physique that the 
average cavalryman shrunk at a contest of riding with 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


279 


him, and there were few men in Washington who had 
the endurance to share his hikes. 

His return to the United States brought a new stimulus 
to the Progressive party, but the World War reduced all 
politics to a minor place in the public mind and to a cor¬ 
respondingly lesser place in the mind of Theodore Roose¬ 
velt. 

For a few months he advocated President Wilson’s 
policy of neutrality, but it was only the calm before the 
storm. It was not long until he began to urge Wilson to 
prepare for the inevitable conflict. From the first Roose¬ 
velt preached preparedness and Americanism. 

When the United States declared war Roosevelt offered 
to raise a division of volunteers, but the war department 
would not consent to this suggestion. In an article given 
to the public through the Associated Press, he said: “The 
Great War has put us in a new world and in this new 
world we must resolutely cling to the old things that were 
good, but we must also fearlessly adopt the new expedi¬ 
ents imperative to bring justice under the new conditions.” 

His four sons joined the army and went to the front. 
His youngest son, Quentin, made the supreme sacrifice 
for his country. Roosevelt’s war work, so different from 
what he desired, consisted of speaking and writing. He 
put his heart into this, interrupted though it was by fre¬ 
quent attacks of ill health. 

He died at his home at Sagamore Hill on January 6, 
1919. He had spent an enjoyable evening in the com¬ 
pany of his wife and retired as usual. His death came as 
a tremendous shock to this country as well as the nations 
of the World. 

The big thing about Theodore Roosevelt, a thing at 
which men still marvel, was his preeminent possession of 
the inimitable touch-stone—the common touch. His life 
from day to day was constant proof of this quality and it 


280 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


was expressed as readily and as enthusiastically upon meet¬ 
ing a cowboy as on greeting the proudest possessor of royal 
blood. To Roosevelt each was a man and to this associa¬ 
tion with each there came, spontaneously, the spirit of 
fellowship, a man to man, eye to eye, hand to hand, ap¬ 
preciation of each other. 

With him to love truth meant to hate deceit; to love 
goodness, to hate wickedness; to love justice, to hate in¬ 
justice. What he loved he embraced whole-heartedly; 
what he disliked, he fought with every ounce of his power¬ 
ful personality. His energies ranged all the scales. His 
ardor knew no restraint of direction, proportion, class or 
time. 

Mankind progresses by generations. The great men of 
each generation are its young men. Roosevelt’s greatness 
was preeminently this type. Though he grew in knowl¬ 
edge and experience, the pain marked body laid away at 
Oyster Bay contained the same unchanged and changeless 
soul, the imperishable spirit of the truly great. Roose¬ 
velt embodied the spirit of exuberant youth. He believed 
in youth, in life, in men, in his country, in goodness, and 
in God. 1 

1 In a number of personal conferences the author felt the magnetic 
charm of Roosevelt’s personality and the dynamic power of his be¬ 
witching tongue. 


AMERICAN CIVIL GOVERNMENT 1 


C IVIL GOVERNMENT is the oldest form of 
government known. There are evidences that the 
earliest tribes of men had some forms of civil 
government applicable to their needs. Although they 
were crude, nevertheless, they were the foundation upon 
which our present day governments have been built. 

Civil government takes its origin from two human in¬ 
stincts, the gregarious and the instinct of self-preserva¬ 
tion. 

The instinct of self-preservation compels us to work 
that we may supply the necessities of life—food, cloth¬ 
ing and shelter. The business world is organized largely 
for the purpose of furnishing these necessities in return 
for our labor. 

The gregarious instinct brings us together in social 
groups, and through these groups, we obtain many bene¬ 
fits—schools, churches, highways and laws, etc. These 
are public needs and must be supplied by the group. Thus, 
the instinct of self-preservation plus the gregarious in¬ 
stinct are responsible for the degree of social perfection 
which we now enjoy. 

If we would realize that civil government is indispen¬ 
sable to our daily lives, we would have a clearer concep¬ 
tion of the importance of a fundamental knowledge of 
this subject. 

The governments of the earth today are the products 
of thousands of years of growth, revolution and change. 
A study of political history reveals the following devel- 

lln writing this chapter the author appreciates the assistance of his 
secretary, C. Wayne Stephens. 

(281) 


282 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


opment of government: First, the family government 
was organized upon the basis of kinship and religion. 
At the head of the family was the house father or priest 
and ruler. The power of the father was absolute. He 
could pronounce the death sentence upon a child, or sell 
it into slavery. The father was the source of all authority. 

Second, the tribe. Prehistoric evidence reveals that the 
family was in some way subordinated to a larger govern¬ 
ment, known as the tribe, which consisted of a union of 
families. At the head of the tribe, as its chief and high 
priest, stood that kinsman who by birth was nearest to 
the common ancestor. The chief was assisted in matters 
of government by the heads of the families which com¬ 
posed the tribe. 

Third, the state government. The last step in the evo¬ 
lution of government was taken as the tribes grew and 
branched out, for it became necessary to organize a na¬ 
tional or state government. The earliest states were 
organized on the basis of kinship, as the word, “natus” 
indicated. With the forming of the state government, 
the desires of the different tribes and communities had to 
be considered. The people were not only members of a 
family or cult, but they had developed until they had 
become members of a commonwealth, active partners in 
a political enterprise. They began with certain desires 
and regarded the state as an agency by which these things 
might be secured. They were citizens of the state and 
owed allegiance to the state, and received in return the 
protection which it afforded. 

From these early state governments to the present day, 
there have developed over forty different forms of gov¬ 
ernments. The earliest form of government was a mon¬ 
archy. Changes in society brought about changes in the 
organization of the state. An absolute monarchy is the 
government of one. The ruler of such a monarchy makes 
his own laws and enforces them. 


AMERICAN CIVIL GOVERNMENT 283 


In the development of the state government, a small 
number of the leading men—the wealthy, the gentry, 
overthrew the king, and took the government into their 
own hands, forming an aristocracy. Properly speaking, 
an aristocracy is a government conducted by a few of the 
strongest people of the state. 

On the other hand, a clique of political adventurers, 
who could claim neither merit nor high birth, would seize 
the power of the state, and hold it by force. A govern¬ 
ment of this kind was called an oligarchy. 

Thus the governments of the world have developed 
step by step until today the popular forms of government 
are, limited monarchies in which the ruler shares politi¬ 
cal powers with a legislative body, and is limited by con¬ 
stitutions and laws. A democracy is a government by the 
people. The people of a democracy make and execute 
laws, and look after the general interests of the govern¬ 
ment. A republic is a representative form of democracy. 
All political power is obtained directly or indirectly from 
the citizens who are entitled to vote. In a republic, laws 
are made and executed by representatives elected by the 
people. 

In studying the growth and development of the gov¬ 
ernment of the United States, we must go hack to 1607 
when English colonists founded Jamestown. England 
claimed this territory by right of discovery. John Cabot 
landed on the Atlantic coast near Boston in 1497, and 
took formal possession of all lands lying west of the 
Atlantic. 

For a time these colonists enjoyed freedom, hut later 
they grew and developed to such an extent that they were 
brought under the direct rule of the King of England 
through his appointed governors. Decade after decade, 
the American colonists grew more desirous of absolute 
freedom, while the rule of the king became more and 


284 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


more tyrannical. These early colonists sowed the seed for 
our present day form of republican government. 

The colonies grew until at the time of the Revolu¬ 
tionary W'ar, there were thirteen—known as the thirteen 
original colonies—each colony had a distinct and sepa¬ 
rate government. Through the combined efforts of these 
colonies, the Revolutionary War was won. 

After the war, it became evident to the leaders of the 
colonies that a union was necessary to assure the perpetua¬ 
tion of the freedom for which they had fought. After 
heated discussion, lasting over twelve months, the Con¬ 
stitution of the United States was adopted. This Con¬ 
stitution was a working basis for our Federal Govern¬ 
ment. 

When the United States declared her independence 
from England, it was declared in the name of the peo¬ 
ple. The Constitution of the United States was founded 
on the principle of equality to all. It required diplomacy 
and insistency to convince the people of the thirteen 
original states of the necessity for a federal government. 
Each state believed in certain inherent rights, which they 
were reluctant to relinquish. 

A republican government receives its power directly 
or indirectly from the people. In granting power to the 
government, the individual must concede certain rights 
in return for which the government gives him protection. 
Each individual is responsible for the protection of the 
rights granted him. Through suffrage, he has the power 
to protect his individual interests as well as those of the 
state. 

The Constitutional limitations on the federal govern¬ 
ment fall into two groups: First, those designed to protect 
liberty against arbitrary interference on the part of the 
government, and second, those designed to protect pri¬ 
vate property against confiscation and irregular action 
on the part of the federal authorities. 


AMERICAN CIVIL GOVERNMENT 285 


A republican government does not confer all the power 
upon one person or body of persons. It is divided into 
three departments, the Legislative Department, which has 
the power of making laws; the Judicial Department has 
the power of deciding how the laws shall apply in par¬ 
ticular cases when disputes arise; the Executive Depart¬ 
ment is vested with the power of enforcing laws. 

The Legislative Department is the most powerful and 
in some respects, the most important. The powers of the 
Legislative Department are set forth in the Constitution 
of the United States. First, Congress has power to levy 
and collect taxes, duties, imports and excises, and to ap¬ 
propriate money to pay debts, and provides for the com¬ 
mon defense and general welfare of the United States. 
Second, Congress has power to raise and support armies, 
create and maintain navies, and provide for the organiza¬ 
tion and use of the State Militia. It also declares war. 
Third, in respect to commerce and business, Congress may 
regulate commerce with foreign countries and among the 
several states, make uniform bankruptcy laws, fix the 
standards of weights and measures, protect authors and 
inventors by a system of patents and copyrights, and estab¬ 
lish post-offices and post roads. Fourth, Congress has 
power to coin money, regulate its value and the value of 
foreign coin. Fifth, Congress may make all laws which 
shall be deemed necessary to the best interests of the peo¬ 
ple. 

One of the most important powers of the legislature is 
to provide money, by means of taxation, for the support 
of the government. The legislative department of the 
United States consists of representatives elected by the 
people. It is composed of two branches, the Senate, known 
as the Upper House, and the House of Representatives, 
known as the Lower House. A measure must always pass 
both houses before it becomes a law. 


286 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


The number of members in the House of Representa¬ 
tives is fixed by Congress. It is based entirely upon the 
population of a state. Each state is divided into congres¬ 
sional districts composed of not less than 30,000 popula¬ 
tion. One representative is allowed from each of the 
congressional districts. 

The Constitution prescribes that there shall be two Sena¬ 
tors from each state, and that no state without its consent, 
shall be deprived of equal representation in the Senate. 

The judicial power of the federal government is vested 
in one court known as the Supreme Court of the United 
States, and in such lower courts as Congress may estab¬ 
lish. All federal judges are appointed by the President 
subject to the approval of the Senate. At the head of 
the Federal Court system stands the Supreme Court, com¬ 
posed of nine judges. The most important questions 
decided by the Supreme Court involve disputes of con¬ 
stitutional law brought up from lower federal courts or 
from state courts on appeal or by writs of error. A de¬ 
cision handed down by the Supreme Court is final. 

The United States is divided into nine circuits. Each 
circuit has a court known as the Circuit Court of Appeals. 
This court is immediately under the Supreme Court. The 
Circuit Court of Appeals has the right to review by appeal 
or on writ of error decisions in the lower federal courts, 
and its decision is final in a large number of cases. This 
court decides controversies between aliens and citizens, 
suits between citizens of different states, and cases aris¬ 
ing under patent, revenue, and criminal laws. This court 
was organized to relieve the Supreme Court. The Cir¬ 
cuit Court of Appeals may ask the Supreme Court for 
instructions on any point of law, and on the other hand, 
the Supreme Court may call the case up and decide it. 
This reserves, therefore, to the Supreme Court the de¬ 
cisions in cases involving constitutionality and gives to 


AMERICAN CIVIL GOVERNMENT 287 


the Circuit Court of Appeals the final decision in nearly 
all other cases involving merely the application of ordinary 
law. 

Immediately under the Circuit Court of Appeals is the 
United States District Court. In each of the nine circuits 
mentioned above there are two, three, or four circuit 
judges, according to the size of the circuit. 

The United States is divided into ninety districts, to 
each of which is usually assigned one judge. The business 
of the District Court embraces many different questions, 
mainly bankruptcy and federal criminal cases, except 
capital offenses. The federal court will take no notice 
of the constitutionality of a statute except when it is 
brought to the attention of the court in the form of a case 
involving the rights of parties to a suit, and in no instance 
will the Federal Judiciary consider the constitutionality 
of any law until it is brought to their attention in a suit, 
or render an opinion either to Congress or the President 
on the validity of a proposed statute. 

The enforcement of the laws made by the legislature 
and the decisions made by the judiciary, and the preserva¬ 
tion of peace and order are the functions of the executive 
branch. The executive power of the United States is 
vested in one man, the President, while the executive power 
of a state, county and town is invested in the Governor, 
sheriff, and mayor respectively. 

Under the system of the United States, each of the de¬ 
partments of government—the Legislative, the Judiciary 
and the Executive has certain specific powers and duties, 
and each is independent of the other two departments; 
yet, at the same time, each department acts as a check on 
the other two. The Supreme Court of the United States 
can declare a law passed by Congress to he null and void 
as soon as a dispute rising under the act is brought before 
it. If the Judiciary Department over-steps its powers, 


288 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


the Legislative Department can pass laws limiting it. If 
the Executive Department goes contrary to the wishes 
of the Legislative Department, the latter may refuse to 
vote money necessary to conduct the executive business. 
Thus by a system of balanced powers and effective checks, 
the independence and efficiency of each department is 
secured. 

The functions of the President of the United States 
are prescribed by the Constitution. It is his duty to see 
that the Constitution, laws, and treaties of the United 
States, and judicial decisions rendered by the federal 
courts are duly enforced everywhere within the borders 
of the country. He is Commander-in-Chief of the Army 
and Navy, has power of pardoning offenses against the 
government of the United States, the power of making 
treaties with the advice and consent of the Senate, the 
power of appointing members of his Cabinet, foreign 
ministers, consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and many 
other federal officers. He has the power to convene Con¬ 
gress in special sessions, and to adjourn Congress when 
the two houses cannot agree upon the question of ad¬ 
journment. The President has the power to vote any law 
passed by the legislature; on the other hand, the legis¬ 
lature has the power to enact a law over the President’s 
veto by a two-thirds majority of the votes of both houses. 

The President is assisted in carrying out his many 
duties by a Cabinet composed of ten departments. These 
assistants are known as Secretaries, and each department 
has certain specified duties. They are in importance of 
rank: Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, 
Secretary of War, Attorney-General, Post-Master Gen¬ 
eral, Secretary of the Navy, Secretary of the Interior, 
Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Commerce and 
Secretary of Labor. 

The nomination and election of a President is compli- 


AMERICAN CIVIL GOVERNMENT 289 


cated: The National Party Conventions assemble for the 
purpose of nominating candidates for the Presidency. 
These conventions assemble on a call issued by their re¬ 
spective national committees. Each national committee 
selects the place and date of the convention. The national 
convention is composed of delegates from each state and 
territory of the United States. Each state and territory 
is entitled to two delegates for each of its Senators and 
Representatives in Congress. The four delegates corre¬ 
sponding to the representation of the state in the Senate 
are known as delegates at large, and the others are called 
district delegates. In addition to the regular delegates, 
there is an equal number of alternates chosen in the same 
manner, and authorized to serve in case the regular dele¬ 
gates are unable to attend. 

In prescribing the methods of electing delegates, the 
Democratic Party differs fundamentally from the Re¬ 
publican Party. The Democratic Party regards the state 
as a unit of representation and leaves it entirely free to 
decide how the delegates shall be chosen; while, on the 
other hand, the Republican Party definitely stipulates that 
the delegates at large shall be chosen at the state conven¬ 
tion, and the other delegates at congressional district con¬ 
ventions. Special provisions are made for the states that 
prescribe nomination of delegates by direct primaries. 

The purposes of the national conventions are three¬ 
fold: They formulate the principles of the party into a 
platform upon which the nominee bases his campaign. 
They nominate candidates for the Presidency, and Vice- 
Presidency, and appoint committees to notify both nomi¬ 
nees. They elect a new national committee which carries 
on the respective campaign and acts in the interest of their 
respective party for the ensuing four years. 

The convention is called to order by the chairman of 
the national committee, and before any business is trans- 




290 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


acted, prayer is offered. The first business the convention 
takes up is the reading of the call for the national conven¬ 
tion by the secretary of the national committee, and the 
chairman of the national committee puts in nomination 
the temporary officers who have been selected by the com¬ 
mittee before the meeting. The temporary chairman de¬ 
livers the “keynote address.” He is not called upon to 
make any important decisions from the chair. After the 
installation of the temporary officers and the “keynote ad¬ 
dress”, the rules of the previous convention are adopted 
until the permanent organization is formed. After this, 
the roll of the states and territories is called, each one of 
which appoints one member for each of the four great 
committees of the convention. The Committee on Cre¬ 
dentials, the Committee on Permanent Organization, the 
Committee on Rules and Order of Business* and the Com¬ 
mittee on Resolutions, or Platform. 

The Committee on Credentials has the power of decid¬ 
ing questions of contested seats. The Committee on Per¬ 
manent Organization names the permanent chairman, the 
secretary, and other officers of the convention. 

The rules under which the permanent chairman controls 
the assembly are reported by the Committee on Rules. 

The Committee on Resolutions drafts the platform on 
which the party will stand. After the adoption of the 
platform, the new national committee is chosen. The 
delegates from each state and territory hold a meeting, and 
choose one person from their respective state and terri¬ 
tory to serve as a member of the national committee. 

Following the election of the national committee, the 
next order of business is the calling of the roll of the states 
in alphabetical order, beginning with Alabama. The pur¬ 
pose of this roll call is the presentation of names of the 
candidates for the nomination. If a state has no candi¬ 
date to present, it may defer to another state. When 


AMERICAN CIVIL GOVERNMENT 291 


the nominations are all made, the vote is taken for the 
candidates. This vote is taken by calling the roll of the 
states in alphabetical order. The chairman of each dele¬ 
gation announces the vote of his group. When the roll 
of the states and territories has been called, and the vote 
of each has been recorded, the total result is announced. 
If any nominee in the republican convention receives a 
majority of all votes cast, he is declared the candidate of 
the party for the Presidency of the United States. On 
the other hand, in the Democratic convention, a nominee 
must receive a two-thirds majority of all votes cast. If 
no nominee receives the required majority of votes on the 
first ballot, the process is repeated until some one secures 
the proper number of votes. Immediately after the nom¬ 
ination of a Presidential candidate, the candidate for Vice- 
President is nominated in the same manner. 

When the convention has chosen its candidates, a sepa¬ 
rate committee is appointed to convey to each of them a 
formal notification of his nomination. 

Immediately after the adjournment of the convention, 
the newly elected national committee meets and makes 
preparations for the campaign. The national committee 
conducts the campaign of its respective candidates, and 
carries on the work of the party for the ensuing four 
years. On the first Tuesday after the first Monday in 
November, following the nominations, the voters of each 
state go to the polls and vote. They do not vote directly 
for the President, but for Presidential electors. Each 
state is entitled to as many electors as it has Senators and 
Representatives. Each state appoints its electors in such 
manner as the legislature may direct, but the popular 
method is by direct vote of the people. The party which 
secures a majority of all votes cast in any state is entitled 
to all the electoral votes of that state. On the second Mon¬ 
day in January following the election, the electors assemble 


292 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


at the Capitol of the respective states, and vote by ballot 
for President and Vice-President. These ballots are en¬ 
trusted to the Secretary of State of the respective states, 
who immediately forwards them to Washington. The 
counting of the total electoral votes polled throughout the 
United States takes place in the Hall of the House of 
Representatives in Washington on the second Wednesday 
in February following the meeting of the electors. This 
counting is conducted in the presence of the members of 
the Senate and House of Representatives. The President 
of the Senate presides over the meeting. Four tellers are 
appointed, two by the Senate and two by the House of 
Representatives. The tellers list the votes of each state 
in alphabetical order. The candidates receiving the ma¬ 
jority of all electoral votes cast are declared to he elected 
President and Vice-President. In case no candidate re¬ 
ceives a maj ority of all the electoral votes cast, the House 
of Representatives chooses the President by voting for the 
three candidates receiving the highest number of electoral 
votes. Each state represented in the House is entitled to 
one vote. A candidate to be elected must receive a ma¬ 
jority of the votes of all the states. In case of the failure 
of the House to choose a President, (whenever the elec¬ 
tion devolves upon that body) before the 4th of March 
following, it becomes the duty of the Vice-President to 
act as President until the President is elected. 

If no candidate for Vice-President receives a majority 
of all the electoral votes, the election is thrown into the 
Senate; the Senators voting as individuals must choose 
the Vice-President from the two candidates having the 
highest number of electoral votes. A candidate to be 
elected must receive a majority of the votes of all the 
Senators. 

Each state of the American Union has separate and dis¬ 
tinct governments. As in the Federal Government, each 


AMERICAN CIVIL GOVERNMENT 293 


state has three departments of government corresponding 
to the three departments of the Federal Government, 
namely, the Legislative, the Judicial, and the Executive. 

The laws of the state are enacted by the State Legisla¬ 
tive body composed of two houses, corresponding to the 
Congress of the United States; the Judicial Department 
is represented by a State Supreme Court, corresponding 
to the United States Supreme Court in its powers and 
duties. The Executive Department is controlled by the 
Governor of each state. 

The powers of the Federal Government are few in com¬ 
parison with those enjoyed by the separate states. The 
state government has its limitations the same as the Fed¬ 
eral Government, but the individual is brought in closer 
contact with the workings of the state government than 
he is with the Federal Government. In fact, the state has 
a right to legislate in all matters where control is not 
granted to the United States or prohibited by the Federal 
Constitution. We cannot enumerate and explain the dif¬ 
ferent powers and privileges enjoyed by each state of our 
Federal Union. The most we can do is to name without 
comment a few of the common powers of government that 
are exercised by the state. All questions that concern the 
relations of private citizens, laws that regulate marriage, 
commercial contracts, principle and agent, belong to the 
state. The work of passing criminal statutes for the de¬ 
tection and punishment of crime, as well as all matters that 
relate to the control and support of the Militia, the build¬ 
ing and maintenance of roads, the right of suffrage, and 
the regulation of state elections are questions that fall 
under state jurisdiction. The state has powers in making 
laws, regulating railroads, banks, insurance companies and 
other corporations. A strong system of local government 
has been created and established under the authority of 
the state. 



294 


WOULD PATRIOTS 


In order that we may have a wise and workable govern¬ 
ment, it is imperative that the individual study the condi¬ 
tions existing in his state and nation, and vote intelligently 
upon all questions pertaining to law and the enforcement 
thereof. 

In the establishing of this democratic-republic among 
the most sacred rights reserved by our forefathers are: 
“The right to worship God according to the dictates of 
one’s own conscience,” the protection of life and 
property, and the right of suffrage. The authority of the 
United States government rests with the voters. On the 
individual depends the policy and security of this govern¬ 
ment. The right of suffrage is the most neglected of all 
the individual rights, while on the other hand it is to the 
advantage of each and every one to vote intelligently for 
the man and measures that protects himself and his fel¬ 
low countrymen. 

A knowledge of American Civil Government is useless 
unless it becomes the basis of a life of service to one’s coun¬ 
try. Whatever thoughts may have been evoked by the 
study of American Civil Government, will be inconse¬ 
quential unless the knowledge gained inspires and makes 
the life count for the betterment of one’s own state and na¬ 
tion. The man or woman who masters national problems 
and uses his knowledge of civil government as a basis for 
intelligent public service will become a benefactor to his 
country. 

At this time the field for constructive service for the 
common good, offers greater opportunities for men and 
women of courageous initiative than at any time in the his¬ 
tory of the nation. Since this Government was established 
Taxation, Immigration, Capital and Labor, Education, 
and Tariff have been questions of national import. The 
country’s rapid advance in economic and industrial condi¬ 
tions, calls for revamping the laws that control national 
aff airs. 


AMERICAN CIVIL GOVERNMENT 295 


In the past decades there has been greater financial and 
industrial strides in this country than in any fifty years 
prior to the World War. In an effort to handle the neces¬ 
sary increase in governmental regime brought about by 
the World War a large number of bureaus and commis¬ 
sions were formed by the Federal Government. As a re¬ 
sult there has been a tendency to violate the original con¬ 
stitution and usurp the powers of individual states. There 
is a growing tendency toward a bureaucratic form of 
government. In the past ten years the number of em¬ 
ployees of the Federal Government have increased from 
Seventy-Three Thousand Six Hundred, in 1914 to Eight 
Hundred and Seventy-Three Thousand in 1924. Taxes 
have increased in the same period from $14.34 per capita 
to $68.10. This should be reduced by readjusted tax legis¬ 
lation to relieve present oppressive taxation. 

This country today is not only the world’s banker but 
the nations of the world are looking to the United States 
to take the initiative in solving international and world 
problems. The countries of Continental Europe are look¬ 
ing to the United States to take the lead in establishing 
some form of a world court or league of nations that will 
eliminate and settle all international disputes through ar¬ 
bitration. 

Through the enactment of the Nineteenth Amendment 
to the Constitution women have been granted equal rights 
with men. This epichol event doubled the voting power 
of the people of the United States. The field of woman’s 
work in the world has also been broadened and demands 
that she should be equally informed with men upon na¬ 
tional and international questions. Intelligent citizenship 
and ideal patriotism should characterize women as well as 
men. 

The World War has left a lowering of the morale of 
the nation but there has followed in the wake of the war 
intellectual awakenings that portend the coming of an era 


296 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


of better things. A change is being gradually but surely 
brought about in the class of reading material the public 
demands. There is today an increased seriousness of tone, 
conspicuous in journalism and in literature. Thought- 
provoking magazines and books of biography and novels 
that are conspicuous for historic settings with heroes of 
real men and women who have lived, loved and achieved, 
are today being read by many. The newspapers and mag¬ 
azines of large circulation give the important news of the 
globe—brilliantly edited and widely informing. One of 
the good omens of America’s future advance is the hun¬ 
ger for mental pabulum, this significant sign of the time 
betokens a better day for America and for the World. 
A day when Patriotism and Citizenship will be emphasized. 


TEN COMMANDMENTS OF PATRIOTISM 


Rabbi Eichler gives the following “Ten Command- 
ments of Patriotism”: 

1. Love thy country, which has redeemed thee from 
tyranny and bondage. 

2. Thou shalt not worship any political idols, nor bow 
down to them, nor serve them; for their iniquity will be 
visited on thee and thy children until the third and fourth 
generation. 

3. Thou shalt not take the name of patriotism in vain, 
nor use it to hide thy selfish motive. 

4. Remember the day of election, to keep it holy. 

5. Honor the sanctity of the ballot that the days of 
the Republic may be prolonged. 

6. Thou shalt not kill the spirit of freedom by neg¬ 
lecting to exercise the prerogatives of a freeman. 

7. Thou shalt not adulterate the purity of civic life 
by entering politics for gain. 

8. Thou shalt not encourage public servants to steal 
by thy indifference. 

9. Thou shalt not let greed for political reward bear 
false witness against the spirit of patriotism. 

10. Thou shalt not covet a public office which thou 
art not fit to fill. 

The original Decalogue speaks of “the land which the 
Lord thy God giveth thee.” It thus sanctifies patriotism. 
Teachers and students of patriotism and good citizenship 
need not hesitate to relate their lesson to the deepest and 
most reverent faiths of the human heart. Under such a 
conception, duties performed conscientiously toward the 
nation are a part of service to God. 

(297) 


“That man may last but never lives, 

Who much receives and nothing gives. 
Whom none can love, whom none can thank, 
Creations blot, creations blank. 

But he who marks from day to day. 

In generous acts his pathway, 

Treads the same path his Savior trod; 

The path to glory and to God.” 


(298) 






OKLAHOMA* 


1492-1907. 


OFTY patriotism and intelligent citizenship find 



expression in devotion and service to one’s own state 


^ * as well as nation. The loyal citizen of the United 
States respects and honors the office and officials of his 
government. He takes pride in the President of his coun¬ 
try regardless of the party that may have elected him. 
The appointees of the Chief Executive, his cabinet, am¬ 
bassadors, consuls, and judges are given proper respect 
by patriotic Americans. 

The good citizen of this republic respects the Constitu¬ 
tion of the United States. He loves his country’s flag and 
welcomes the opportunity of saluting and honoring this 
emblem of America’s liberty. He also takes a hearty in¬ 
terest in the Capitol City of his country—the seat of the 
Federal Government. 

The patriotic American enjoys studying the splendid 
structure known as the Capitol Building, also its many 
statues and paintings of America’s patriots. He loves to 
visit the City of Washington and looks with eager in¬ 
terest upon the White House, Washington’s Monument, 
Lincoln Memorial, and the Congressional Library. Sen¬ 
timents of loftiest patriotism are evoked when the Ameri¬ 
can citizen beholds the Congressional Library building 
which is the acme of architectural genius. This building 
is the most beautiful structure ever erected by man. It 
contains three million volumes; the largest library in the 
world. 

The more knowledge one has of his nation’s birth, 
growth, and achievement, the more intelligent and fervent 

* Oklahoma Edition. 


(299) 


300 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


will be his patriotism. A study of the character of the 
men and women who established our nation will inspire 
patriotism. The examples handed down to us by our 
pioneer fathers have left us a rich inheritance; the pre¬ 
cepts and principles that guided their lives and made 
them great are the same constructive forces that make 
men and women great to-day. 

Every citizen should know something of the patriots of 
the other sixty-six nations of the world, and should know 
intimately the seven men who laid the foundation of our 
republic. These men were the principal leaders in the 
establishment of the most liberty-loving and enduring de¬ 
mocracy this earth has ever known. The lives of Washing¬ 
ton, Adams, Jefferson, Marshall, Hamilton, Morris and 
Franklin should saturate the mind and heart of every 
American. 

The citizen who aspires to make the most of his life 
should also know his own state and respect her officials. 
The governor of each state and other state officials are 
chosen by a majority of the suffrage of the men and 
women of the commonwealth. These officials are entitled 
to the same kind, if not the same degree of respect and 
honor, as our nation’s officials. This chapter on Oklahoma, 
with a characterization of some of her distinguished state 
builders, is given to inspire the young men and women of 
this great state to become truer patriots and better citizens. 
Information about one’s own state and a pride in his home 
state, as well as the knowledge of the struggles and sacri¬ 
fices of the men and women who have honorably and un¬ 
selfishly served their state, is essential to good citizenship. 

Native Indians who occupied the territory now known 
as Oklahoma, an Indian name meaning “the land of the 
red man”, claim that they and their ancestors had been 
making this country their home thousands of years before 
the first white man set his foot on its soil. 


OKLAHOMA 


801 


Spain, France and England, all by right of discovery, 
claimed the ownership of Oklahoma’s 44,424,960 acres. 

Spain based her claim on the fact that she, through 
Christopher Columbus, had discovered America, that in 
1541 her explorer, Coronado, had traveled east, west and 
south of this territory and had actually passed through 
that part of it now known as the Panhandle. France 
claimed this vast Oklahoma region because a Frenchman, 
La Salle, in 1682 succeeded in reaching the mouth of the 
“Father of Waters” and formally took possession of the 
entire Mississippi basin and its tributaries in the name of 
his King, Louis XIV of France. Therefore, France’s 
title hung on the slender thread that Oklahoma was drained 
by the Mississippi River, the mouth of which they had 
discovered. England claimed this territory by right of 
discovery. John Cabot landed on the Atlantic coast in the 
year 1497, and gathering his ship’s company about him 
he raised the English flag and took formal possession of 
all lands lying west of the Atlantic in the name of his 
King, Henry VII. Consequently, these English voy¬ 
agers took possession of Oklahoma’s 70,057 square miles 
in the name of the “Crown”. 

The red men, who occupied this land, have left many 
traces of their ancient ownership. In Ottawa, Delaware, 
Cherokee and many other counties, fragments of pottery 
are being found, giving evidence that there once lived 
here a tribe of people who made their homes in caves, thou¬ 
sands of years ago. In the counties of Sequoyah, Haskell 
and LeFlore, in the eastern part of Oklahoma, in the 
valley of the Red and Arkansas Rivers, great mounds of 
earth, some of them built in cones and pyramids, indicate 
that these mound builders may have lived in this state 
when the pyramids of Egypt were being built. Scattered 
over the ranches and farms of Pontotoc, Pushmataha, 
Choctaw and other counties in the southeastern portion of 


302 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


the state, are thousands of small circular mounds of earth, 
that recent research has proved to have been built by the 
Indians and used by them for some unknown purpose, per¬ 
haps for worship and the burying of their dead. In these 
mounds are found bones of mastodons, urns, flint knives, 
arrows and bowls of earthenware similar to those used 
in Egypt in the days of King Tut. In Kay and Cimarron 
counties—in fact in almost every one of the seventy-seven 
counties of this commonwealth—may be found prehistoric 
evidence, such as arrow points, spears, beads, weapons of 
war and ancient implements, tracing prehistoric unwritten 
records. 

Wihen the first white man entered Oklahoma, he found 
separate and distinct tribes of Indians, speaking different 
languages. These tribes were more jealous and bitter 
toward their neighbor tribes than are the inhabitants of 
the Balkan States or the various nations of continental 
Europe to-day. 

Every Indian male was taught and trained from early 
childhood for war. Fighting and hunting were his only 
vocations. The bow and arrow, spear and tomahawk were 
used in the chase and in warfare, and were symbols of 
courage and victory. Some of these tribes lived in per¬ 
manent settlements, while others were nomadic, roving 
from place to place seeking regions where game was most 
plentiful, as their existence depended upon the chase. 

The Wichitas and Caddos were the most ancient inhabi¬ 
tants, and lived in villages of log cabins thatched with 
grass. Their squaws raised corn, beans, pumpkins and 
little watermelons about the size of cocoanuts, while the men 
hunted bear, buffalo, deer, wild turkey and other game, 
and fought neighboring tribes. The Osage, Quapaw, 
TJtes, Kickapoos, Comanches and other tribes lived near 
the hills and mountains in lodges or tents made of buffalo 
skins. These buffalo villages were similar to the black 


OKLAHOMA 


303 


goat tent villages of the Bedouins of Syria. The roving 
tribes easily moved to new and fresh hunting grounds, and 
lived on game, knowing little of vegetables and fruits. 

The state of Oklahoma, according to the United States 
census of 1920, has 2,028,283 citizens. The state is pro¬ 
lific in mountains, rivers and creeks, having forty-three 
mountains, thirty-seven rivers and hundreds of creeks. 

Frenchmen were the first of the white race to make set¬ 
tlements in this state. They entered the territory in canoes 
made of trunks of trees hollowed out by fire, and paddled 
these crude little boats up the rivers and creeks, bartering 
axes, hatchets, and beads for bear, buffalo, and deer hides 
and the skins of beaver, mink and other fur-hearing ani¬ 
mals. These French explorers were brave men who came 
into this unknown wilderness seeking adventure and for¬ 
tune. When they treated the Indians fairly and kindly, 
the red men responded with the “pipe of peace” and 
friendliness. Later the Indians felt that these “pale-faced 
people” were gradually taking away their happy hunting 
ground, hence the Franko-Indian War. This war ended 
in 1763, when the French sold their possessions west of the 
Mississippi River to Spain. This country was then known 
as the Province of Louisiana. 

Spain retained Oklahoma for forty years. Napoleon 
Bonaparte then forced her to return the Province of Louis¬ 
iana to France. On November 30,1803, twenty days after 
Napoleon purchased this territory from Spain, he sold 
it to the United States. New Orleans was at once turned 
over to the United States, Thomas Jefferson, then Presi¬ 
dent, consummating the deal. However, the distant Span¬ 
ish post of Saint Louis was not transferred to the United 
States until March 14, 1804. This entire province of 560 
million acres was purchased by President Jefferson for 
approximately two and a half cents an acres; the best 
land deal recorded in history. The states to-day compris¬ 
ing this territory are: Louisiana, Missouri, Alabama, 
Florida, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas* Nebraska and 


304 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


all of Oklahoma except the three counties lying west of 
the 100th meridian. 

In 1904, in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of 
this epochal event, a world exposition was held in Saint 
Louis, in honor of Thomas Jefferson, whose acumen and 
diplomacy consummated this purchase. This transaction 
was the beginning of a precedent of expansion, which has 
been followed by every administration from Jefferson to 
Wilson, and has resulted in the thirteen colonies being ex¬ 
panded to forty-eight states and two territories lying in 
one solid body, besides Hawaii, Porto Rico, the Canal Zone, 
the Philippine Islands and a protectorate over the Repub¬ 
lic of Cuba. 

The Louisiana Purchase was the beginning of an era of 
business and diplomatic relations with France, which 
worked tremendously toward the establishing of an inter¬ 
national fellowship between these two great republics. 
This friendship had already been happily started when 
Rochambeau equipped a fleet of ships and sent the gal¬ 
lant young LaFayette to aid George Washington in win¬ 
ning our independence. The bond between these sister 
republics has endured for one hundred forty-eight years. 
Rufus Cheauteau, a boy of fourteen, at the head of a 
French colony, had settled in Missouri and located a vil¬ 
lage February 14, 1767, which he named Saint Louis after 
King Louis IX. In 1802 this brave Frenchman sent from 
Saint Louis a few of his picked, daring associates to estab¬ 
lish a settlement still farther west. These Frenchmen 
reached Oklahoma in 1802 and were the first white settlers 
in this country. They located their camp among the Osage 
Indians on the east bank of Grand River. 

Although the United States took formal possession of 
the province of Louisiana in May 1804, but few Americans 
had ever seen its soil or known anything of its vast re¬ 
sources. The first investigators sent forth to explore this 


OKLAHOMA 


305 


new territory constituted what was known as the “Lewis 
and Clark Expedition”. They started from Saint Louis 
in the fall of 1804, traveling up the Missouri River to the 
Rocky Mountains. The story of their tour, with its thrill¬ 
ing adventures, is more fascinating than Fenimore Coop¬ 
er’s “Last of the Mohicans”. 

In 1807, another expedition, commanded by Zebulon 
Pike, explored other portions of the Louisiana country. 
Pike went almost straight west through Kansas, Colorado 
and the Panhandle of Oklahoma, to the Rocky Moun¬ 
tains where he discovered Pike’s Peak. 

In 1810, James Wilkinson, with a few soldiers, was sent 
by President Polk to explore Arkansas and Oklahoma. 
Wilkinson’s notes on his experiences with Indians, buf¬ 
falos and rattlesnakes are of absorbing interest. 

In 1812, Captain Richard Sparks, of the United States 
army, was sent to explore the Red River to its source, but 
while passing through Oklahoma was driven back by Span¬ 
ish troops and never completed his task. 

The first English-speaking people to enter Oklahoma 
came in 1813. The war of 1812 had been fought and won 
under the masterful leadership of the daring southerner, 
Andrew Jackson, before any English-speaking settlement 
had made Oklahoma its home. 

The United States established a military post at the 
mouth of the River Poteau in Oklahoma in 1817. They 
named it Fort Smith after Captain Smith who served 
under General Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. 
Captain Smith met Captain William Johnston, who had 
raised a thousand brave Virginians and marched to New 
Orleans. At this time a few white English-speaking 
people settled near this post on the eastern border of Okla¬ 
homa, but a number were killed by the Indians and many 
of these early adventurers returned to their old homes in 
Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri. 


306 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


The first unmolested American settlers in Oklahoma 
were led by Robert French and Samuel Rutherford, who in 
1818 pitched their tents on the Verdigris River, seven 
miles from the city of Muskogee. They did but little 
farming, their principal occupations being hunting and 
trading with the Indians. 

In 1820, various religious bodies began sending their 
evangelists to enlighten and Christianize the “red men” 
in this region. These Indians had never heard of Jesus, 
the World’s Saviour. The missionaries were brave men. 
Their work began with the Five Civilized Tribes,—Cher- 
okees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks and Seminoles. As 
Americans began to enter this territory in considerable 
numbers, some of them, daring adventurers who sought 
refuge in this “wild wilderness”, did not properly consider 
the Indians’ rights. At times these new-comers exercised 
undue shrewdness in trading with the Indians, and the 
situation between the whites and Indians became critical. 
A few white people and many Indians were killed. 

To adjust these differences, the United States in 1817 
established a military post in Oklahoma at the mouth of 
the Poteau on the eastern border of Oklahoma. This 
military post was called Fort Smith. In 1824, two other 
military posts were established, Fort Gibson, on the east 
bank of the Grand River near Muskogee, and Fort Towson, 
located on the Kiamichi River in southeastern Oklahoma. 

During the two centuries which had passed since the 
settlement of the first English colonies on the Atlantic 
Coast, the Indians had been gradually forced back into 
the interior of the country. As the colonies grew and the 
country became more thickly populated, the Indians had 
been driven from their homes along the eastern coast and 
had taken up lands farther west. The Indians were not 
citizens of the states in which they lived, and were not 
subject to state laws. They did not pay taxes. Shortly 


OKLAHOMA 


307 


after the War of 1812, a feeling arose between the whites 
and the Indians, which finally forced the Indians to take 
up new lands west of the Mississippi. The lawless ele¬ 
ment among the white men lurked about the Indian Reser¬ 
vations, selling them whisky, gambling, and stealing from 
them. It was only natural that the Indian should be¬ 
come suspicious of the white man, and as they were being 
tricked out of their land, the feeling of suspicion grew to 
hatred. There were two classes of white men, those who 
wanted to get possession of the Indian lands and would 
use any means to accomplish their ends; the other, a class 
of white people who were friends to the Indians who want¬ 
ed to see these tribes move to new reservations to get them 
away from their unpleasant surroundings. 

During the struggle between the Indians and the early 
settlers, the United States acquired extensive lands west 
of the Mississippi through the Louisiana Purchase. This 
land had been purchased for such a small sum that gov¬ 
ernment officials were at a loss to know how to dispose of 
it to best advantage. They finally decided that if they 
could purchase the Indian lands east of the Mississippi, 
they would make money on the transaction, and be able to 
remove the Indians from the coveted land in the eastern 
states. 

At this time Oklahoma was not the home of any large 
or important Indian tribes. A few Wichitas lived in the 
southwestern part near the Wichita Mountains. This tribe 
was not numerous enough to be of any great importance. 
Curiously enough Oklahoma was to become a real Indian 
country furnishing homes for the largest tribes in the 
United States as well as some of the smaller ones, until 
nearly one hundred and twenty thousand Indians, repre¬ 
sentatives of between sixty and seventy different tribes, 
were to be found in Oklahoma. 

The first Indian tribes to be removed to Oklahoma were 
known as the Five Civilized Tribes. Due to their advance 


308 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


in civilization they were called “The Five Civilized Tribes’’. 
They lived in log cabins, cultivated the soil and were far in 
advance of their neighboring tribes in these respects. 

They came to this country during the period between 
1820 and 1840. This land they had purchased was known 
as the Indian Territory. It comprised a large part of 
the present states of Nebraska, Kansas and all of Okla¬ 
homa exclusive of the northwest portion now known as 
the Panhandle. 

In 1802 the United States government made an agree¬ 
ment with Georgia known as the “Georgia Compact”. 
This agreement was that if Georgia would turn over her 
western lands to the national government, the latter would 
at its own expense relinquish Indian title to lands in 
Georgia. For a number of years the government sought 
to carry out its part of the agreement, but were unable to 
accomplish anything until 1817 when the first treaty was 
made for the removal of the Cherokee Tribe from Georgia 
to the Indian Territory. Subsequent treaties were made in 
1819, 1828 and in 1835. By these treaties the entire tribe 
was removed to Oklahoma, and given a large tract of 
land in the northeast part of the state. The treaty of 
1835 was made with a part of the main body of the Chero¬ 
kee tribe which was still living in Georgia. This treaty 
provided that the whole tribe should move to the new res¬ 
ervation in the northeastern part of what is now known as 
Oklahoma. Because this treaty was made by a few mem¬ 
bers of the tribe who were acting without authority, the 
main body of the tribe refused to be bound by it; but the 
United States insisted upon enforcing its terms, and the 
Cherokee people were compelled to leave their homes and 
move to the west. 

Treaties were also made with other tribes living east of 
the Mississippi as follows; the Creeks, 1832, 1835 and 
1836; Seminoles, 1832, 1833, 1856; Choctaw, 1820, 1825 


OKLAHOMA 


809 


and 1830; Chickasaws, 1832, 1837 and 1855. By these 
treaties, all of the Five Civilized Tribes were removed 
to the Indian Territory and each tribe given its own lands. 

The removals were fraught with much suffering on the 
part of the Indians. During the course of their west¬ 
ward journey there was much sickness among the members 
of the tribes. Hundreds died along the road, and because 
of this the people of these tribes spoke of the road over 
which they came into the Indian Territory as “The Trail 
of Tears”. 

Among the Cherokees, Creeks and Seminoles were two 
factions, one faction favored the treaties with the United 
States and the removal to the west, the other faction bit¬ 
terly opposed it. These two factions brought on feuds 
resulting in much disorder and bloodshed. All of the 
Five Civilized Tribes except the Seminoles had a written 
Constitution and written laws. Each was an independent 
republic with its own political institutions and officials who 
had power of life and death over their citizens. Such was 
the honor and veracity of the tribe that they built no jails, 
but when a death sentence was pronounced upon a Chero¬ 
kee Indian, he was given sixty days to be with his family. 
Such was their code of honor and the two high graces of 
courage and honor are dominant among them in Okla¬ 
homa today. 

Upon the arrival of the tribes in this new territory, 
they built new homes and cleared land for cultivation. 
These tribes were accompanied by the missionaries who 
had been laboring among them as teachers in their old 
reservations east of the Mississippi. Through mission¬ 
aries, schools and trading posts were established who also 
assisted the Indians in perfecting their methods of farm¬ 
ing. 

Much credit is due Sequoyah for the advancement and 
education of the Cherokee tribe. It was through his ef- 


310 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


forts that the first Indian alphabet was originated. This 
alphabet consisted of eighty-six characters and repre¬ 
sented every possible syllable in the Cherokee language. 
Any one who learned this alphabet was able to read in 
Cherokee without further instruction. Sequoyah was a 
half-breed. He was born in the Cherokee Nation about 
the year 1760. His early life was typical of the average 
Indian boy of his time. He learned no language hut that 
of his mother’s people and could neither read nor write. 
He was a man of mature years before he ever saw a hook 
of any kind. When he learned through the missionaries 
that the printed characters represented sounds and words, 
and that ideas could be conveyed by such means, he was 
greatly amazed. It was then he conceived the idea of 
inventing an alphabet for the use of his own people. It 
was through the use of this alphabet that his people learned 
to read and write. At first he tried to make a separate 
character or letter for each word in the Cherokee language, 
but he finally succeeded in devising an alphabet in which 
there was a separate letter for each possible syllable in the 
language, and one for the letter “s”. Type was cast for 
the new alphabet, books were printed and within a few 
years, nearly all of the Cherokee people had learned to 
read. Sequoyah moved to the country of the western 
Cherokees in Arkansas in 1823, and in 1829 he moved 
to the new Indian reservation in Oklahoma. He died 
in 1844 while on a hunting and exploring expedition in 
Mexico. Sequoyah was universally loved by his people 
who still cherish and honor his memory. 

At the time the Indians settled in Oklahoma, the meth¬ 
ods of travel between the Indian Territory and the states 
to the eastward were slow and difficult. As the country be¬ 
came settled more white people visited this country, and 
the necessity for trails became apparent. In 1825-26, the 
Sante Fe Trail was laid out by a commission representing 


OKLAHOMA 


311 


the government of the United States. This wagon road ex¬ 
tended from the Missouri River at Kansas City to Sante 
Fe, New Mexico, and crossed Cimarron County in the 
extreme northwest part of Oklahoma. In 1828, the first 
steam boat ascended the river to that post each year, carry¬ 
ing supplies and merchandise. 

Due to the association of the Five Civilized Tribes with 
the white people of the southern states, these tribes had 
acquired a number of the customs of the southern people. 
Many of the Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes owned 
slaves which they brought with them to this new country. 
At the time of their removal, slavery was becoming a 
paramount question in American politics. The Indians 
had been compelled to remove from their old home, and 
just as they were reaching an advanced stage of civiliza¬ 
tion and had begun to follow the ideas of the white man, 
the Civil War began. After enduring the hardships of 
pioneering in a strange land, and at the time when they 
were beginning to prosper, they became involved in the 
white man’s war. Although they were not vitally con¬ 
cerned, the result of the war was disastrous to them, and 
left their country in a state of utter ruin and desolation. 
When the Civil War broke out the north withdrew its 
troops from the vicinity of the Indian Territory. The 
government refused to forward money due the Indians 
on the plea that the money might fall into the hands of the 
Confederates. Due to these facts, a number of the In¬ 
dians felt that the Federal Government had deserted them, 
and when the Confederacy sent General Albert Pike to 
make treaties of alliance with the Five Civilized Tribes, 
four of them: the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Semi¬ 
nole promptly signed this treaty. The Cherokees at first 
refused, but in October, 1861, they also made an alliance 
with the Confederacy. Although this treaty with the Con¬ 
federacy was signed by the Five Civilized Tribes, a num- 


812 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


ber of Creeks, Seminoles and Cherokees remained loyal 
to the Federal Government. 

The two factions soon were involved in fighting among 
themselves, and after two or three bloody battles the In¬ 
dians who were in sympathy with the north were driven 
out of their country into Kansas where they spent two 
years in refuge camps enduring untold hardships as the 
result of cold, hunger and disease. The north finally sent 
expeditions into the Indian country, and drove the sym¬ 
pathizers of the Confederacy from their homes into Texas. 
During the last years of the Civil War, they met with all 
the hardships their northern brothers had endured the two 
preceding winters. At the close of the war, the Indian 
Territory presented a pitiable aspect. The tribes were 
hopelessly divided, and numerous bands of outlaws had 
drifted into their territory from the states. Houses were 
burned, herds of cattle slaughtered, fields had grown up 
in weeds. The out-look for the future was discouraging. 
The Indians were eager to know where they stood with 
the victorious government of the north. The first peace 
council after the war was held at Ft. Smith, Arkansas, in 
1865. At this council the Indians were told that they had 
forfeited all treaty rights by virtue of their participation 
in the Southern Confederacy and that new treaties must 
be made. This treaty included the following terms: First, 
they must make peace with the United States, and with 
one another; second, they must free their slaves, and grant 
them tribal rights, and lands or otherwise provide for their 
welfare; third; that rights-of-way for the construction 
of two rail roads across the Territory, one from north to 
south, and the other from east to west should be granted; 
fourth, they must give up a portion of their lands to fur¬ 
nish homes for other tribes of friendly Indians; and fifth, 
that Congress should have power to establish a territorial 
government with an inter-tribal legislative council. 


OKLAHOMA 


318 


The apparent harshness of these terms and the contro¬ 
versies between the two factions in some of the tribes pre¬ 
vented definite action at this time. The tribes merely made 
peace with the United States and the following summer 
sent commissioners to Washington to sign complete trea¬ 
ties. During one of the discussions between the delegates 
from the Indian tribes and the government commissioners, 
the name of “Oklahoma” was first suggested for the name 
of the state which now hears it. While the proposed ter¬ 
ritorial form of government for the new Indian Territory 
was being discussed, one of the government commissioners 
asked, “What would you call your territory?” Reverend 
Allen White, a full blood Choctaw Indian instantly re¬ 
sponded, “Oklahoma”. In the Choctaw language, “Okla” 
means people and “Humma” or “Homa” means red; 
hence the signification of the word thus compounded is 
“Red People”. It was in accordance with this suggestion 
that the treaty which the delegates from the Choctaw and 
Chickasaw Nations signed with the government commis¬ 
sioners referred to the proposed territorial organization as 
“The Territory of Oklahoma”. Ry these treaties the 
Creeks gave up the western half of their land, receiving 
the sum of thirty cents an acre in payment. The Semi- 
noles agreed to give up all their country for the considera¬ 
tion of fifteen cents an acre, and to purchase new land from 
the United States for which they paid fifty cents 
an acre. The territory purchased by the Seminoles was 
the land the government had purchased from the Creeks 
for thirty cents an acre. The Chickasaw and Choctaw 
tribes made a joint treaty with the United States by which 
they agreed to give up the leased district of their terri¬ 
tory upon payment of the sum of $360,000. The Cherokee 
did not give up any land, but agreed to allow the United 
States to locate tribes in certain sections of their territory. 
The price for the land was to be agreed upon by them- 


314 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


selves and the tribes so located or in case they could not 
agree, the price should then be fixed by the government. 

During the next twenty years approximately twenty 
different tribes were brought into Oklahoma and located 
upon these lands. In the territory received from the Cher¬ 
okee tribe were placed the Osage, Kaw, Ponca, Otoe and 
Missouri, Pawnee and Tonkawa, leaving about six million 
acres still unoccupied, which belonged to the Cherokee 
tribe. On the lands ceded by the Chickasaws, Choctaws, 
Creeks and Seminoles were placed such tribes as the Shaw¬ 
nee and Potowatomi, Sac and Fox, Iowa, Kickapoo, Chey¬ 
enne and Arapaho, Kiowa and Comanche, leaving a tract 
of land approximately two and a half million acres in 
the very center of the Indian country. This tract was 
called the “Unassigned land” or Oklahoma. 

With the coming to Oklahoma of the last tribes of plains 
Indians about 1880, the first period in the peopling of 
Oklahoma—that of the settlement of Oklahoma by the 
Red Man—came to an end. The settlement of Oklahoma 
by the white man began in 1889. Between the two periods 
and well over-lapping both, lies a curious transitional 
period in the history of western Oklahoma—that of the 
ranchman. 

From early colonial times the cattle industry in the 
United States had been gradually increasing. Not until 
after the Civil War did this industry develop to any 
great degree. Texas had not been touched by the Civil 
War and as a result that state had an abundant supply of 
cattle for which there was no market. On the other hand, 
in the north fat cattle and beef were selling at exorbitant 
prices. This was the beginning of the cattle industry 
throughout Oklahoma which later played such an import¬ 
ant part in her romantic history. 

Joseph G. McCoy was one of the first men to transport 
cattle from Texas to the markets at Chicago and other 


OKLAHOMA! 


315 


markets. He dreamed the dream of the cattle trail and 
made it come true. Each year great streams of Texas 
cattle poured northward to market or to new ranges. Be¬ 
tween the plains of Texas and the market centers of the 
north, lay the great Indian Territory with its wide 
stretches of untouched but inviting pasture lands. The 
first cattle to enter western Oklahoma were the herds mov¬ 
ing northward on the trails. Gradually as ranges elsewhere 
became scarce some ranchmen sought to occupy permanent 
ranges in the region of Oklahoma. The government of 
the United States at first refused the ranchmen permission 
to locate there permanently but in spite of such prohibi¬ 
tion, large areas became occupied by the ranchmen. Be¬ 
tween 1875 and 1880 practically all the vacant lands in 
the western half of the Territory were occupied by cattle 
ranges. These cattle ran at large and in order that every 
ranchman might be able to identify his own stock, each 
animal was branded with a red hot branding iron. Every 
ranch had its own brand or brands by means of which 
every animal might be readily recognized and identified. 
At that time cattle rustling was common. In 1881 the 
cattle ranchmen of the Cherokee outlet met at Caldwell, 
Kansas and organized the Cherokee Strip Live Stock As¬ 
sociation. That organization became very popular and 
wielded great influence in the affairs of the Indian Ter¬ 
ritory as well as being beneficial to the cattle industry. 
The land occupied by this association consisted of over 
six million acres which was leased directly from the Chero¬ 
kee tribe. This territory was subdivided into large pas¬ 
tures. In a very short time all the unoccupied Indian 
reservations, in western Oklahoma were taken up by 
ranchmen. Although some of the men who came to this 
country were educated and were descendants of the best 
families of the eastern states, a number of outlaws drifted 
into this new territory. Trouble soon arose between the 
Indians and the ranchmen who occupied these reservations. 


316 


WORLD PATRIOTS 


General Phil H. Sheridan was finally sent to the Chey¬ 
enne- Arapaho country to evict the ranchmen and their 
herds and restore order among the Indians. That was 
accomplished but it was not long until the cattlemen were 
back again. Thus for a number of years the ranchmen oc¬ 
cupied these large ranges in Oklahoma. 

On June 6, 1870, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas, the 
first railroad to enter the Indian Territory, began laying 
its tracks southward from the Kansas boundary. It was 
constructed southwestward across the Creek, Cherokee and 
Choctaw Nations and later across the Red River into 
Texas. Shortly after this road entered the Indian Ter¬ 
ritory from the north, the Atlantic and Pacific Railway 
entered from the east. Starting at the Missouri line, they 
built their road across the Shawnee and Wyandotte reser¬ 
vations, and joined the Missouri, Kansas and Texas road 
at Vinita. 

The establishment of cattle ranches in this unassigned 
territory soon led to the demand that this Indian land 
should be opened for settlement. The government at first 
refused to listen to the demands made by many settlers, 
however, many people entered the territory and took up 
these lands, but were removed by detachments of the 
regular army. Great credit is due Captain David L. 
Payne for the settlement of Oklahoma. He was the 
leader of the movement to force the opening of Oklahoma 
country to settlement under the home-stead laws. For a 
number of years he organized colonies and led 
them into the forbidden country. He was arrested and 
expelled repeatedly, but every time he reorganized his fol¬ 
lowers, and invaded the Oklahoma country again. He 
started a movement which finally resulted in the opening 
of the land for settlement. Shortly after Payne’s death in 
1884, a bill was introduced into Congress for the purpose 
of authorizing the opening of the Oklahoma country to 


OKLAHOMA 


317 


settlement under the home-stead laws. The bill was op¬ 
posed by two factions, the Indian Tribes did not want 
the white settlers to come into their country. They had 
not forgotten their being forced to abandon their lands 
east of the Mississippi and they feared this would he hut 
a repetition of the hardships they had endured. Allied 
with the Indians in this opposition were the ranchmen. 
The ranchmen realized if this land should be open for 
home-steading, their ranches would he divided into farms. 
After a bitter fight in Congress the bill was finally forced 
through in spite of opposition. President Benjamin 
Harrison issued a proclamation setting the 22nd day of 
April, 1889 as the date for the opening of this new terri¬ 
tory. Immediately after the proclamation was made, 
thousands of people began to gather along the border 
awaiting the hour when they should be permitted to enter 
and choose their home-stead claims. When the appointed 
hour arrived, thousands of people swept into this unset¬ 
tled territory, and by nightfall of the first day, a score of 
cities and towns were marked by hundreds of tents. Grad¬ 
ually but surely this influx of white settlers spread over 
Oklahoma until to day the state has taken its place among 
the rank of the other states of the Union. For eighteen 
years Oklahoma remained a Territory of the United States 
when in 1907 it was admitted to the Union by the Federal 
Government as the forty-sixth state of the Union. 
















I 















INDEX 


A. 

Adams, John. 30, 33, 35, 43, 44, 238. 
Adams, Robert. 91. 

Adams, Samuel. 43, 44. 

Alenson, Duke of. 105, 106. 

Alexander The Great. 20. 

Alexandria. 132. 

Alexis, Czar. 179, 185. 

Allende, Captain. 203, 205, 207-210, 
212. 

Alsace-Lorraine. 157. 

Amiens, Pet*ce of. 135. 

Andean. 77. 

Areola. 130. 

Armada, Spanish. 109, no. 

Articles of Confederation. 53. 

Arran, Earl of. 97. 

Austerlitz. 136. 

Autun. 125. 

Azof. 181, 184. 

B. 

Bacon, Sir Francb. 84, no. 

Baltic. 180, 184. 

Barras. 127, 128. 

Baudricourt. 115. 

Beauharnais, Josephine. 129. 
Bernadotte, General. 136. 

Bismarck, Otto Von. 1, 37, Life of 145- 
163. 

Blucher, General. 142. 

Boleyn, Anne. 87, 88. 

Bolivar, Simon. 13, 37, Life of 61-82, 
125, 192, 195, 197, 209- 
Bonaparte, Joseph. 69-71, 195. 

Booth, J. Wilkes. 233. 

Boston Harbor. 47. 

Bothwell. 98. 

Bourbon. 62, 70. 

Boves. 73. 

Braddock. 25, 41. 

Brandywine. 27. 

Bridges Creek. 39. 

Brienne. 125, 126. 

Bryan, Lady. 87. 

Burghley, Lord. 93, 101, 105. 
Byzantium. 79. 

C. 

Caesar, Julius. 20, 21, 81, 124, 130. 
Cairo. 132. 

Calais. 90. 

Calleja, General Felix Maria. 207, 208, 
210. 

Calvin, Jean. 94. 

Cambaceres. 132. 

Campbell, Archibald. 26. 


Carbonari. 164. 

Carow, Edith Kermit. 263. 

Carter, Ann Hall. 237. 

Cavour, Camillo Benso. 14, 37, Life of 
163-176. 

Charles, Albert. 166, 168, 169. 

Charles, Archduke. 97. 

Charles IV of Spain. 199. 

Charles V. 89, 193. 

Charles VII. 114-116, 119-121. 

Charles XII of Sweden. 184. 
Charlemagne. 118. 

Chimney Butte Ranch. 263. 

Chinon. 115. 

Clark, Champ. 15-17. 

Cleveland, Grover. 261. 

Clinton, General. 49. 

Compeigne. 120. 

Confederacy, Southern. 241. 
Constantine. 79. 

Cornwallis, Lord. 49. 

Corsica. 125-127. 

Creoles. 63, 64, 195, 198, 202, 214. 
Cromwell, Oliver. 125. 

Custis, Martha. 41, 42. 

Custis, Mary Lee. 238. 

D. 

Darnley, Lord. 96-98, 99. 

Dartmouth College. 35-36. 

Davis, Jefferson. 225, 228, 233, 241, 
249. 

Davis, Richard Harding. 268. 

Diet, Federal German. 148. 
Dominguez, Miguel. 202. 

Domremy. 113, 120. 

Dorchester. 46. 

Douglas, Stephen A. 222, 224. 
Doumouriez. 69. 

Drake, Sir Francis. 84. 

Duma. 177. 

Dunois. 116. 

Duquesne, Fort. 41. 

E. 

Edinborough. 96. 

Edward VI. 86, 88, 94. 

Elba. 141, 143- 

Elizabeth, Queen. 13, Life of 83-113. 
Ellsworth. 33. 

Emancipation Proclamation. 75. 
Emmanuel College. 97. 

Emmanuel, Victor. 169, 173. 

Eric, King. 97. 

Essex, Earl of. no-111. 

Euxine. 180. 



INDEX 


F. 

Fairfax, Lord. 39, 57. 

Ferdinand VII. 62, 67, 69, 70, 71, 74, 
195, 203. 

Fort Sumter. 227, 240. 

Francis II. 95. 

Francis, David R. 177. 

Franklin, Benjamin. 16, 44, 53, 56, 123. 
Frederick the Great. 145. 

Frederick William I. 151. 

Frederick William III. 14s, 148, 161. 
Frederick William IV. 148, 149. 

G. 

Gachupines. 64. 

Garibaldi. 173, 174, 176. 

Genoa. 133, 166. 

Germantown. 27. 

George, King III. 16, 38. 

Gerry, Elbridge. 16, 30, 31, 32. 
Gettysburg. 229-232, 234, 244-246. 
Gladstone, William E. 160, 215. 
Gordon, Patrick. 182. 

Grant, General. 220, 229-231, 244, 
248-251. 

Grayson, William. 29. 

Great Bridge. 27. 

Greeley, Horace. 239. 

Gresham, Sir Thomas. 102. 

Grey, Lady Jane. 90. 

Guard, Old. 141. 

Guerrero. 66. 

Gustavus Adolphus. 184. 

H. 

Halifax. 46. 

Hamilton, Alexander. 34, 43, 58, 93. 
Hampden. 147. 

Hancock, John. 16. 

Hannibal. 20, 77. 

Harrison, Benjamin. 16, 29. 

Harrison, William Henry. 263, 264. 
Hatfield. 91. 

Henry III. of France. 106, 107. 

Henry VII. 87. 

Henry VIII. 86-88, 94, 95. 

Henry of Navarre. 106. 

Henry, Patrick. 26, 27, 29, 44. 
Herndon, William B. 221. 

Hessians. 47. 

Hidalgo, Miguel. 14, 37, 66, Life of 
189-214. 

Howe, General. 46, 47. 

Hudson. 47. 

Hunsdon, Lord. 100. 

I. 

Ingria. 184. 

Inquisition. 89. 

Invalides. Dome des, 143. 


Italy, 130. 

Ivan. 179. 

J. 

Jackson, Stonewall. 220, 241, 242, 243, 
244, 246. 

James, King of Scotland. 97, 99, 106. 
Jay, John. 43. 

Jefferson, Thomas. 31, 32, 34, 43, 44, 

58 , 93 , 135 - 

Joan of Arc. 13, Life of, 113-123. 
Johnson, Hiram W. 278. 

Johnston, Joseph E. 220. 

Jose Joaquin. 200. 

Josefa, Dona. 202, 203. 

Josephine. 129, 136, 139. 

Junot. 127, 128. 

K. 

Kerensky. 177. 

Kleber, General. 132. 

Knox, Henry. 58. 

Knox, John. 94. 

Koniggratz. 154-155. 

Kosciusko. 66. 

L. 

Lafayette. 37, 38, 43, 49, 66, 67, 124, 
146. 

Lafort. 181, 182. 

La Guaira. 72. 

Lambau. 138. 

Las Casas. 192. 

Lebrun. 132. 

Lee Alice Hathaway. 260. 

Lee, Robert E. 14, 220, 228, 229, 230, 
232. 

Lee, Richard Henry. 29, 44, 237. 
Lexington. 78, 205. 

Leicester, Earl of. 93, 96, 98, 107, no. 
Leopold, Prince. 156. 

Livingston. 56. 

Lincoln, Abraham. 14, 37, 75, 76, 8i, 
125, 166, 209, 243, Life of 215-237. 
Livingston, Robert. 135. 

Luther, Martin. 94. 

Luneville. 134. 

Lockleven Castle. 99. 

Lodi. 130. 

Long, John D. 265. 

Louis Philippe. 146. 

Louis XVIII King. 141. 

Louis XIV. 157, 158. 

Louise, Queen. 137. 

Louisiana Purchase. 135. 

Lyly. 83. 


INDEX 


M. 

Madison, James. 29, 30, 43. 

Marshall, John. 13, Life of. 

Marshall, Thomas. 26. 

Martin, San. 37, 66, 77. 

Marlowe. 83. 

Mary I. 87, 88, 94. 

Mary Tudor. 95. 

Mary Stuart. 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100. 

101, 106, 107, 108, 109. 

Marmont, General. 127, 136. 

Marie Louise. 140. 

Marengo. 133. 

Mason. 29. 

Mazzini, 164, 167. 

Menzikoff. 181, 182. 

Metternich. 146, 168. 

Michael, Saint. 114. 

Maliukoff, Paul W. 178. 

Mildmay, Sir Walter. 97. 

Michael, Angelo. 21. 

Miranda, Don Francisco. 69, 71, 72, 
197. 

McClellan, General. 228. 229, 242, 243. 
McKinley, William. 264, 270. 

Moltke. 146, 154, 156. 

Monmouth. 27. 

Monteverde, General. 72. 

Monroe, James. 29, 30, 43. 

Mount Shasta. 58. 

Mount Vernon. 39, 41, 42, 43, 55, 58. 
Morelos. 66, 206, 213. 

Morillo, General. 74. 

Morris, Robert. 43. 

Moreau, General. 132, 134. 

Moscow. 179, 181, 182. 

N. 

Naples. 138, 139. 

Napoleon III. 156, 175, 176. 

Nash, Thomas. 35. 

Napoleon I. 20, 21, 30, 31, 68, 69, 71, 
77, 81, 107, Life of, 123-145, 163, 194, 
195 - 

Nelson, Admiral. 132. 

Ney, Marshall. 141, 142. 

New York. 47, 57. 

Nobel Peace Prize. 274. 

Norfolk, Duke of. 101. 

Norfolk. 27. 

Nystad, Peace of. 184, 185. 

O. 

Orleans. 116, 118, 120, 121. 

Owens, Robert L. 17-19. 

P. 

Parr, Queen Catherine. 87, 88. 

Pasteur. 21. 


Pedro de Gante. 193. 

Pendleton. 28. 

Peter The Great. 14, 37, Life of 177- 
189. 

Petrograd, 184. 

Philip, Prince of Spain. 89, 97, 100, 
101, 102, 107, 109, hi, 189. 

Phillips, Wendell. 239. 

Pickett, General. 246. 

Piedmont. 167, 168, 179. 

Philipse. 41. 

Pinckney, Charles. 30, 31, 32. 

Pitt, William. 137. 

Poltova. 184. 

Pope Pius VII. 136. 

Potomac. 43. 

Powles Ridge. 27. 

R. 

Randolph, Edmund. 58. 

Raleigh, Sir Walter. 84. 

Reformation. 94, 96. 

Renaissance. 83, 94, 103. 

Rheims. 114, 119. 

Revolution, American. 124, French. 
124. 

Rizzio. 97. 

Rochambeau. 124. 

Roon, General. 152. 

Root, Elihu. 177, 270, 271. 

Roosevelt, Theodore. 14, Life of 255- 
281. 

Rosenwelt, Claes Martenzon. 256. 
Rough Riders. 267, 268, 269. 

S. 

Saint Helena. 143. 

Sardenia. 165, 172. 

Santa Marta. 80. 

Scharnhorst. 152. 

Scott, Winfield. 220, 240. 

Seine. 122. 

Sewall, Bill. 260, 262. 

Shakespeare, William. 84, 104, 105. 
Sidney, Sir Philip. 103, 104. 

Sidney. 83. 

Sophia. 179, 180, 182. 

Somerset, Duke of. 86. 

Spencer, Edmund. 103. 

Spencer. 83. 

Smith, General G. W. 241. 

Stephens, Alexander H. 225, 241. 
Stein. 155. 

Strelitzes. 182. 

Strong, William L. £63. 

Stuart, Mary. 95. 

Sucre, Jose de. 77, 78, 79. 


INDEX 


T. 

Taft, William Howard. 271, 276, 
277. 

Talleyrand, Charles Maurice de. 
3 X > 32, 34- . 

Tartar Invasion. 178, 179. 

Taylor, Zachary. 220. 

Thompson, James. 26. 

Toro, Maria Teresa. 67. 

Toulon. 127, 128. 

Tourelles. 116. 

Trafalgar. 136. 

Trenton. 47. 

Trujillo, General. 208. 

Turin. 133. 

V. 

Valence. 126. 

Valley Forge. 27, 66. 

Vaucouleurs. 115, 117. 

Velasco, Lopez de. 192. 

Versailles. 158. 

Victoria, Queen. 83. 

Vienna, Congress of. 145. 


W. 

Washington, Augustine. 38. 
Washington, George. 13, 27, 29, 
Life of. 37-59, 66, 67, 69, 76, 81, 
93, 125, 215, 218, 219. 
Washington, Lawrence. 39, 40, 42. 
Washington, Martha. 238. 
Washington, Mary. 38. 

Waterloo. 74, 132, 142. 
Wellington, General. 141, 142, 143. 
Westminster Abbey. 91. 

William I. 151, 158, 161. 

William II. 151, 161, 162. 

William of Orange. 107. 

William the Conqueror. 92. 
Williams, Walter. 13-15. 
Williamstown 41. 

Wilson, Woodrow. 67, 218, 279- 
Wise, General. 238. 

Wood, Leonard. 259, 268. 
Workmen’s Compensation. 160 . 
Wythe, George. 27, 28. 

Y. 

Yorktown. 49, 66. 








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